Note 35 — Chapter IX · Place-name Stories

For exact information as to the Gaer, the Yw, and Ỻygad Yw, I am indebted chiefly to the courtesy of Lord Glanusk, the owner of that historic strath, and to the Rector of Ỻansantffread, who made a special visit to Ỻygad Yw for me; also to Mr. Francis Evans, of the Farmers’ Arms at the Bwlch, who would be glad to change the name Ỻygad Yw into Ỻygad dan yr Ywen, ‘the Source beneath the Yew-tree,’ partly on account of the position ‘of the spring emanating under the but of the yew tree,’ and partly because there is only a single yew there. Theophilus Jones complained a century ago that the Gaer in Ystrad Yw had not attracted the attention it deserved; and I have been greatly disappointed to find that the Cambrian Archæological Association has had nothing to say of it. At any rate, I have tried the Index of its proceedings and found only a single mention of it. The whole district is said to teem with antiquities, Celtic, Roman, and Norman. ↑