Newport in Monmouthshire (1813) by Edward Pugh, showing the castle, bridge and ships docked at Arthur's Pîl (or Town Pîl) beyond.
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]
The Pill, a Waterway running through the village of Pilning and the Pilning Wetlands
Waldings Pill
Gwent
St. Pierre Pill was the site of a much larger harbour associated with legends of St Tewdric. It remains in use today as the Chepstow and District Yacht Club.[12]
Arthur's Pill or Town Pill, Newport (no longer extant)
Caldicot Pill (south of a road named The Pill, Portskewett)
^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
