Pil (placename)

Pîl (also rendered as Pill, Pil or Pyll) is a Welsh placename 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]

Artist's reconstruction of Medieval Newport, showing Arthur's Pîl (or Town Pîl) just south of Newport Castle.

The name is today most commonly associated with the village of Pyle in Glamorgan, and the small village of Pill in Somerset.

Usage

In toponymy and hydronymy the word is often mistaken for another Welsh word "Pŵll" ("Pool"). However, there is no proven link between the words and the two are often found within the same localities (for example, medieval Caerleon had both a Pwll Mawr and a Pîl Mawr either side of the Roman port). Pîl may have developed a secondary meaning of 'refuge', as the name appears in some 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
Newport in Monmouthshire (1813) by Edward Pugh, showing the castle, bridge and ships docked at Arthur's Pîl (or Town Pîl) beyond.

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 those at Pillgwenlly (said to have been the base of piracy by Gwynllyw, the future patron saint of Newport and its Cathedral) and Arthur's Pîl (or Town Pîl), the site of the 2002 archaeological discovery of the Newport ship (now the Riverfront Arts Centre).[4][5][6]

Place names with the element

Bristol
  • Broad Pill, Shirehampton
  • Elbury Pill, Avonmouth (No longer extant)
  • Morgans Pill
  • New Pill
  • Stup Pill Rhine
  • Wimpenny Pill

Carmarthenshire
  • Pil Dafen, a tidal stream in the National Wetlands Centre at Llanelli

Cornwall
  • Bodmin Pill, River Fowey
  • Caffamill Pill, River Fowey
  • Cliff Pill, River Fowey
  • Frenchman's Pill, Helford River
  • Manely Pill, River Lerryn
  • Mendy Pill, River Lerryn
  • Mixtow Pill, River Fowey
  • Pill Cove, Helford Passage
  • Pill Creek, River Fal
  • Pill Farm, Lostwithiel, River Fowey
  • Pont Pill, River Fowey
  • South Pill, Saltash
  • Terras Pill Bridge, also known as Terras Bridge, Sandplace.
  • Wooda Pill, River Lerryn
  • Woodgate Pill, River Fowey

Devon

Glamorgan
  • Blackpill, Swansea
  • Burry Pill
  • Cogan Pill, Penarth (no longer extant)
  • Great Pill
  • Jones' Pill, a Pil "on the shore of Portmanmoor", East Moors, Cardiff (no longer extant).[7]
  • Pil-du-Reen, a waterway in Trowbridge, Cardiff
  • 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).[8]
  • Pill, the name of a farm in Rumney, near the Severn shore.[9]
  • Pen y Pil, a school and area above the Pil-du-Reen
  • Pennard Pill, a watercourse at Three Cliffs Bay
  • 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.[10]
  • Pyle

Gloucestershire

Gwent
  • Arthur's Pill or Town Pill, Newport (no longer extant)
  • Caldicot Pill (south of a road named The Pill, Portskewett)
  • Chapel Pill
  • Collister Pill Reen
  • Crindau Pill
  • Goldcliff Pill
  • Julians Pill, the inlet at the Newport Uskmouth Sailing Club
  • Liswerry Pill Reen
  • Maes-glas Pill
  • Magor Pill (also a street and farm between Magor Pill and the town of Magor)
  • Mathern Pill
  • Mireland Pill Reen
  • Pillgwenlly, Newport (The Pil itself is no longer extant).
  • Pillmawr, West of Caerleon, also the name of a village.
  • Pillbach, between Pillmawr and the port at Caerleon, on the northern bank of the Usk.
  • Park Pill, west of Pillmawr.
  • Peterstone Pill
  • St. Pierre Pill
  • Small Pill, Peterstone Wentlooge
  • Spytty Pill, Newport
  • Towyn Pill Reen
  • Tynypil, Peterstone Wentlooge
  • Undy Pill
  • West Pill Reen

Pembrokeshire

Somerset

See also

References
  1. Owen, William (1803). A Dictionary of the Welsh Language (Vol II ed.). London.
  2. Macfarlane, Robert (5 March 2015). Landmarks. London: Penguin, UK. ISBN 978-0241967867.
  3. Turner, Rick. "Unique Levels Lingo". Living Levels.
  4. Jones,Stone, Evan T, Richard, ed. (2018). The World of the Newport Medieval Ship: Trade, Politics and Shipping in the mid-fifteenth century. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-1786831453.
  5. Robin Gwyndaf, Welsh Folk Tales (National Museum of Wales, 1989), p. 96
  6. Trett, Bob. "The Street and Road Pattern". Newport Past.
  7. Hobson Matthews, John, ed. (1905). 'Schedule of place names: G - M', in Cardiff Records: Volume 5 (Vol 5 ed.). Cardiff. pp. 369–394.
  8. Hobson Matthews, John, ed. (1905). 'Schedule of place names: N - R', in Cardiff Records: Volume 5 (Vol 5 ed.). Cardiff. pp. 394–413.
  9. Hobson Matthews, John, ed. (1905). 'Schedule of place names: N - R', in Cardiff Records: Volume 5 (Vol 5 ed.). Cardiff. pp. 394–413.
  10. Hobson Matthews, John, ed. (1905). 'Schedule of place names: N - R', in Cardiff Records: Volume 5 (Vol 5 ed.). Cardiff. pp. 394–413.
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