Pîl (also rendered as Pill, Pil or Pyll) is a
Welshplacename element. The name is defined as the tidal reach of a waterway, suitable as a harbour, and is common along the
Bristol Channel and
Severn Estuary. The highly localised distribution suggests it may have been part of a common maritime culture on the waterways within the tidal reach of the Severn Sea.[1]
The name is today most commonly associated with the village of
Pyle in Glamorgan, and the small village of
Pill in Somerset.
Usage
In
Welsh toponymy and
hydronymy the word is often mistaken for another word "Pŵll" ("Pool"). However, there is no proven link between the words and the two are often found within the same localities (
Caerleon has both a Pwll Mawr and a Pîl Mawr either side of the
Roman port). It is thought that Pîl developed a secondary meaning of 'refuge', as the name also appears in more inland areas (such as
Pilleth in
Powys).
Proliferation
Instances of the name are found as far north as
Pilling in Lancashire and as far south as South Pill and Pillmere in
Saltash, Cornwall. However, the name is most associated with the
Severn Sea, from
Pembrokeshire in the west to
Somerset and
Gloucestershire in the east.
Robert Macfarlane interpreted the word as denoting "a tidal creek or stream...capable of holding small barges", while
Rick Turner noted the word was part of a common lexicon, shared across the
Gwent,
Somerset and Gloucestershire Levels.[2][3]
History
The Norman castles at Pembroke (left) and Newport (right) were built adjacent to pîls and both settlements would develop through their maritime trade.
The prevalence of this element indicates its significance in the development of medieval communities along the Severn. This is perhaps most evident on the
River Usk, where Pîls were located both at the old Roman port of
Caerleon and at the
new Norman castle further south.
The
city of Newport would develop around a number of Pîls, such as
Gwynllyw's Pîl (said to have been the base of
piracy by
Gwynllyw, the future patron saint of Newport and
Newport Cathedral), Arthur's Pîl (or Town Pîl), the site of the 2002 archaeological discovery of the
Newport ship (now the
Riverfront Arts Centre) and Jack's Pîl.[4][5][6]
The word was defined in the Archæologia Britannica, a 1707 work by the Welsh linguist
Edward Lhuyd. Nineteenth century Welsh writers would often define the term in line with
William Owen Pughe's 1803 definition as "a small inlet of the sea filled by the tide". Many of these writers would point out its contemporary status as a colloquial or oral term still in use throughout the south of Wales. Pughe also noted the rarity of the term in other parts of Wales, stating that Camlas was often used for similar places in north Wales.[7][circular reference]
Pilgot-Fawr, on the river Ely, in the Penarth Road area of Grangetown (near the point where Stadium Close meets Penarth Road today, no longer extant).[9]
Pil y Cynffig
Pill, the name of a farm in Rumney, near the Severn shore.[10]
Pen y Pil, a school and area above the Pil-du-Reen
Pwll-Mawr, an area of Rumney, Cardiff. It is first recorded as "the Great Pill" In a charter of 1218, and is named for a Pill at the mouth of the Rhymney estuary.[11]
^Jones, Evan T; Stone, Richard, eds. (2018). The World of the Newport Medieval Ship: Trade, Politics and Shipping in the mid-fifteenth century. University of Wales Press.
ISBN978-1786831453.
^Robin Gwyndaf, Welsh Folk Tales (National Museum of Wales, 1989), p. 96