Landsker Line
Encyclopedia
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
-speaking and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking areas in southwest Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The English-speaking areas, known as Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales is a name applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from the English border...
, are notable for having been English linguistically and culturally for many centuries despite being far from the border with England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The line is noted for being sharp, and for having moved only slightly over the past several centuries.
During the 11th and 12th centuries both invaders and defenders built more than fifty castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
s during a complex period of conflict, effectively to consolidate the line. The southernmost was Laugharne
Laugharne Castle
Laugharne Castle is a castle in the town of Laugharne in southern Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is located on the estuary of the River Tâf....
; others included Wiston
Wiston Castle
Wiston Castle is a motte and bailey castle in the Pembrokeshire village of Wiston in south west Wales.It seems to have been abandoned during the first half of the thirteenth century so is one of the best examples of its type in Wales. The castle is situated opposite St Mary Magdalene Church and...
, Camrose
Camrose, Pembrokeshire
Camrose is a village and parish in the Hundred of Roose , Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales.-Description:Camrose was a civil parish, area 3,386 Ha.The parish church of St Ismael is situated in the village, at grid reference 192720,220060....
, Narberth
Narberth, Pembrokeshire
Narberth is a town in Pembrokeshire, Wales. . It was founded around a Welsh court, but later became a Norman stronghold on the Landsker Line. It became the headquarters of the hundred of Narberth. It was once a marcher borough...
, and Roch
Roch
Saint Roch or Rocco ; lived c.1348 - 15/16 August 1376/79 was a Christian saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August; he is specially invoked against the plague...
. These are often referred to as "frontier castles" but they were in fact set back a considerable distance from the frontier itself. In the heart of the Normanised colony, the two great fortresses were at Pembroke
Pembroke Castle
Pembroke Castle is a medieval castle in Pembroke, West Wales. Standing beside the River Cleddau, it underwent major restoration work in the early 20th century. The castle was the original seat of the Earldom of Pembroke....
and Haverfordwest
Haverfordwest Castle
Haverfordwest Castle is a castle located in the town centre at Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, south Wales, located in a naturally defensive position at the end of a strong, isolated ridge. The castle was established during Norman times in 1120 but much of the architecture remaining today is dated to...
. There were other fortresses within the colony as well, including Manorbier
Manorbier Castle
Manorbier Castle is a Norman castle located in the village of Manorbier, five miles south-west of Tenby, West Wales.-Construction:Manorbier is a rectangular enclosure castle, curtain walls, and round and square towers. Its tower gateway was protected by a great door and portcullis as well as roof...
, Carew
Carew Castle
Carew Castle is a castle in the civil parish of Carew in the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire. The famous Carew family take their name from the place, and still own the castle, although it is leased to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, which administers the site.-Construction:The present castle,...
and Tenby
Tenby
Tenby is a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, lying on Carmarthen Bay.Notable features of Tenby include of sandy beaches; the 13th century medieval town walls, including the Five Arches barbican gatehouse ; 15th century St...
.
The Landsker has changed position many times, first moving north into the foothills of Mynydd Preseli
Preseli Hills
The Preseli Hills or Preseli Mountains are a range of hills in north Pembrokeshire, West Wales...
during the military campaigns of the Early Middle Ages, and then moving southwards again in more peaceful times, as the English colonists found that farming and feudalism were difficult to maintain on cold acid soils and exposed hillsides.
When historians began to get interested in the strange linguistic divide which was incredibly sharp in the early part of the 1900s, they started to use the term "landsker." Since then, it has stuck, and remains in common use. Local people may or may not know what the word means, but they certainly all recognize that the language divide stretching from St Bride's Bay
St Bride's Bay
St Brides Bay is a rocky bay inlet in western Pembrokeshire, West Wales.Either Skomer Island or the mainland extremity of Wooltack Point at the western end of the Marloes Peninsula marks the southern limit of the bay whilst its northern limit is marked by Ramsey Island off St Davids Head...
to Carmarthen Bay
Carmarthen Bay
Carmarthen Bay is an inlet of the south Wales coast. The coastline includes famous beaches, including the Pendine Sands and Cefn Sidan sands, and is partially covered by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park....
remains very distinct.
In-depth description
The term Landsker is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin used in south-west England and along the anglicised South WalesSouth Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
coast. It signifies a permanent, visible boundary between two tracts of land, and may be a natural feature (e.g. a river) or an artificial feature (e.g. a hedge or a line of marker stones). In Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, its official use became obsolete at the end of the eighteenth century.
In 1939, the term was first applied to the linguistic frontier in south-west Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. This is an unfortunate usage, because the linguistic boundary, in general, is neither visible nor permanent. However, many commentators have taken up the use of the word in this context in the last 50 years, so that today it is usually understood to mean the language boundary.
The language boundary is a fascinating example of a cultural frontier that has persisted, without the assistance of any legal status, for ten centuries or more. The boundary (with Welsh to the north and east, and English to the south and west) starts on St Bride’s Bay in the west of Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
, and follows a serpentine course eastwards until it meets the river Taf north of Laugharne in Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
. Traces of a boundary also persist across the Llansteffan
Llansteffan
Llansteffan is a village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Llansteffan is one of three settlements positioned on the Tywi river, other settlements include Ferryside and Carmarthen . Llansteffan Castle, built by the Normans in the 12th century, is located in the village...
peninsula and the country near Kidwelly
Kidwelly
Kidwelly is a town in Carmarthenshire, west Wales, approximately north-west of the main town of Llanelli.It lies on the River Gwendraeth Fach above Carmarthen Bay. The town is twinned with French village St Jacut de la Mer.-History:...
, and it reappears strongly in the boundary between English and Welsh Gower
Gower (Lordship)
thumb|350px|right|Map of the Lordship, showing the area detached , the area added and the Town and Franchise of Swansea. The language boundary is shown as a dotted line....
. The area to the south of the line was referred to in the 16th century as Anglia Transwalliana or "Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales is a name applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from the English border...
".
In 1603, George Owen provided a snapshot description of the language boundary and Little England
Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales is a name applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from the English border...
, and provided an antiquarian account of the settlement of English speakers in south-west Wales. This provides the “traditional” view: that the area was cleared of native Welsh by the Norman invaders in the early 12th century, and was planted with Flemings from elsewhere in England. However, Owen pointed out that there was no trace of Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
custom or language in his time. It would be odd if Flemish speakers, marooned in an area surrounded by Welsh speakers, should have acquired English. In fact, traditional Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
English is lexically related to the Early English of southwest England, and in all probability the anglicisation of the South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
coast paralleled the anglicisation of Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, perhaps concurrently. A recent DNA study showed that people in Little England are genetically indistinguishable from the Anglo/Celtic people of southern England.
The frontier was not solely linguistic: there were also differences in customs (notably of inheritance) and in architecture. Owen characterised the cultural frontier in 1602 as both sharp and stable, and subsequent observers (with less local knowledge than Owen) have reiterated his description, and suggested that the line remained close to that described by Owen. The first objective, statistically-based description of the frontier was made in the 1960s, and showed a line similar to that described by Owen, although in some places in had moved north, while in others it had moved south. People in the frontier zone did not recognise the term “Landsker”, but were well aware of the location of the boundary. Rather than a sharp line of demarcation, the boundary consists of a corridor of mixed language, typically 3–5 km wide, in which the direction of language trend varies according to the migration characteristics of the inhabitants. The frontier zone has probably always had these characteristics.
As mentioned above, the frontier moved between 1600 and today. Historic data on personal names also shows that it also moved between 1200 and 1600. There were attempts to set up a number of Norman/English “planned villages” (e.g. Letterston and New Moat) north of the current frontier in the medieval period. These subsequently failed, and were re-occupied by Welsh speakers in the post Black Death period. In more modern times, the enclosure of commons allowed a substantial southward spread of Welsh speakers, particularly in Carmarthenshire. These are quite rare examples of Welsh-speaking areas expanding at the expense of English-speaking areas; in the central part of Pembrokeshire the shift of the Landsker southwards between 1600 and 1900 was in excess of 10 km.
Southwest Wales is very rich in Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
Castles. Some are deep within the Welsh zone (e.g. Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion
Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...
, Cilgerran
Cilgerran
Cilgerran is a town in the Hundred of Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Teifi. It is the site of Cilgerran Castle, built in 1100, from which Owain of Powys is said to have abducted Nest in 1109. It is first mentioned by name in 1164...
, Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn
Newcastle Emlyn is a town straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in west Wales and lying on the River Teifi.Adpar is the part of the town that lies on the Ceredigion side of the River Teifi...
, Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....
), and some are deep in Little England
Little England beyond Wales
Little England beyond Wales is a name applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from the English border...
(e.g. Pembroke
Pembroke Castle
Pembroke Castle is a medieval castle in Pembroke, West Wales. Standing beside the River Cleddau, it underwent major restoration work in the early 20th century. The castle was the original seat of the Earldom of Pembroke....
, Carew
Carew
Carew may refer to:People*Baron Carew, a title in the British peerage*Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet , British Member of Parliament involved in the English Civil War*Ashley Carew , English-Barbadian football player...
, Manorbier
Manorbier
Manorbier is a village on the south coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales.The name means the 'Manor of Pyr'.-History:The Norman knight Odo de Barri was granted the lands of Manorbier, Penally and Begelly in gratitude for his military help in conquering Pembrokeshire after 1003. The first castle was motte...
, Haverfordwest
Haverfordwest
Haverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales and serves as the County's principal commercial and administrative centre. Haverfordwest is the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire, with a population of 13,367 in 2001; though its community boundaries make it the second most populous...
, Tenby
Tenby
Tenby is a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales, lying on Carmarthen Bay.Notable features of Tenby include of sandy beaches; the 13th century medieval town walls, including the Five Arches barbican gatehouse ; 15th century St...
). A number lie close to the language boundary (e.g. Roch
Roch
Saint Roch or Rocco ; lived c.1348 - 15/16 August 1376/79 was a Christian saint, a confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August; he is specially invoked against the plague...
, Wiston
Wiston, Pembrokeshire
Wiston is a village and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the United Kingdom. It was once a marcher borough. Owen, in 1603, described it as one of nine Pembrokeshire "boroughs in decay"...
, Llawhaden
Llawhaden
Llawhaden is a village and parish in the Hundred of Dungleddy , Pembrokeshire, West Wales.Llawhaden was a civil parish, area 1865 Ha....
, Narberth
Narberth
Narberth may refer to:*Narberth, Pembrokeshire, a town in Wales*Narberth, Pennsylvania, a town in the United States*Narberth , a traditional hundred of Pembrokeshire in Wales...
, Laugharne) and are sometimes referred to as “frontier castles”, but the whole of Dyfed
Dyfed
Dyfed is a preserved county of Wales. It was created on 1 April 1974 under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972, and covered approximately the same geographic extent as the ancient Principality of Deheubarth, although excluding the Gower Peninsula and the area west of the River Tawe...
(the territory south of the River Teifi and west of the Towy and Gwili) was in the hands of Norman marcher lords. The language boundary was never a defended frontier. All the castles had the primary function of intimidating and controlling the local population, whether Welsh or English speaking.