There was another old house in Gwersyllt, named in the ordnance map "Sydyllt." However, I find it almost invariably called "Sydalch" in the registers, and other parish books. The name Edward Lhuyd gives is "Ty'n y Sidalch;" while in the transcript I have of Norden's Survey (A.D. 1620) it appears under the formSydyn Sydalgh," evidently a copyist's mistake for "Tyddyn Sydalgh." I am convinced that "Sydalch," whatever that might mean, is nearer to the true form than "Syddyllt," for which last-named spelling there is no authority whatever. The property was held in 1620 by lease from the Prince by William Lewis, and then contained about 21 statute acres.

There was also a property in Gwersyllt belonging to the Edwardses of Stansty, called "The Belan. "Belan" is of very common occurrence among the placenames of this neighbourhood, and means, I believe, a mound.

A large part of the arable land of Gwersyllt consisted, in 1620, of common fields: that is, of closes of land divided into strips of unequal area, and owned by different persons, each owner having, however, in many cases several strips or quillets in the same field. One of these closes was called "Maes Gwersyllt," or Gwersyllt Field. It lay on the borders of Stansty township, opposite Stansty Issa farm. That this arrangement of divided ownership had its origin often in the operation of the custom of gravelkind, I do not doubt. No other conclusion is possible from the distinct statements of surveys and deeds. But that those strips which were of equal area and contained one erw (2560 square yards), were due to the working of the common plough, seems also a reasonable conclusion. Many of them were called "erwé" (the local form of the plural of "erw") thus, yr errowe yn tir bichan" (the quillet in Tir Bychan), "yr errowe yn tir Einion ddu" (the quillet in Tir Einion Ddu, or Land of Einion the Black), and so forth. By 1620, many of these quillets were joined together by exchange or purchase; and this process has

been going on ever since; until now, I believe, in Gwersyllt not a single quillet remains.

Quetkie," as I find from old deeds and surveys, was formerly a very common generic field-name in Gwersyllt, as indeed it was in Burton also, and elsewhere. The etymology of "quetkie" is doubtless "coed-gae" wood field, or field recovered from the primeval forest.

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There was a common in Gwersyllt called "Mynydd Gwersyllt," or "Cefn Gwersyllt," which of course has been appropriated. In 1649, it is described as containing 5 acres. If these were customary,' as I suppose they were, they would equal about 11 statute acres. Judging from the name and from the probabilities of the case, Mynydd Gwersyllt or Cefn Gwersyllt must have been where Summerhill and Windy Hill now are. Edward Lhuyd (about 1699) wrote: They dig coal at Windy Hill in Gwersyllt in the Commons."

"Rhos Wersyllt" (Gwersyllt Moor) is mentioned in 1620, but was not then an open common.

As to the canal, of which there are still so many obvious traces, especially near Gwersyllt Church, I have already said enough in my History of the Country Townships of Wrexham Parish, page 104.

Gwersyllt Church was built in 1850 and 1851, and by an Order in Council dated November in the year last-named, a district was assigned to it.

The existing village of Gwersyllt is now commonly called "The Wheatsheaf," after the name of the inn there.

197

THE EARLY SETTLERS OF CARNARVON

SHIRE.

BY PROFESSOR E. ANWYL, M.A.

CARNARVONSHIRE has been more fortunate than some of the other counties of Wales in attracting the attention of students of Welsh prehistoric archæology. The volumes of the Archæologia Cambrensis bear eloquent testimony to the interest which has been felt in the early remains of this county, in such articles as those of the Rev. H. Longueville Jones, the Rev. Hugh Prichard, the Rev. W. Wynn Williams, the Rev. E. L. Barnwell, the Rev. Elias Owen, Sir T. D. LoveJones-Parry, Professor C. C. Babington, and others of a later period. There has been a revival of interest within recent years in the early antiquities of the district in connection with the exploration at Trerceiri, and the wider question of the origin and epoch of the early stone fortresses of the British Isles. This latter question, too, is part of the still wider subject of the distinctive characteristics of the Bronze and Iron stages of civilisation. In connection with these topics it is important to emphasise the fact that it is only by means of excavation and careful exploration that the various problems which arise can be solved, and that funds are greatly needed in order to carry out a thoroughly systematic archæological survey of the Principality. We have reason to be very grateful to those members of the Society who have commenced the exploration of Trerceiri with highly encouraging results.

No traces of Palaeolithic man appear to have been found in Carnarvonshire. The district is not rich in spacious caves; so that if the relatives of the cave-men of the Vale of Clwyd entered it in Palæolithic times, they would have had to construct their own shelters as

6TH SER. VOL. IV.

14

best they could, of earth, wood, or stone, wherever natural shelter was unavailable. Of Neolithic man, however, there are abundant traces in the "cromlechau," the surviving stony skeletons of their tombs. Photographs (reproduced in collotype) of these, together with those of Anglesey, have been published, with a letterpress description of each, in a handy volume by Mr. John E. Griffith, F.L.S., F.R.A.S. (Jarvis and Foster, Bangor, 1900). Mr. Griffith very properly expresses his doubt whether the Coetan Arthur Cromlech, near Carnarvon, is a cromlech at all, and that on the opposite page found at Bryn, in the parish of Llanfairisgaer, seems doubtful also. The genuine "cromlechau" appear to be the following: (1) That known as Lletty y filiast, on the Great Orme's Head. (2) That called "Yr Hen Allor," in the parish of Llandegai, near a small farm called Ffynnon Bach. (3) That found on a farm called Penarth, about a mile and a-half from Clynnog. (4) That which stands nearer still to Clynnog village, in a field belonging to Bachwen Farm. (5) The Cefn isaf Cromlech, about two and a-half miles north-east of Criccieth. (6) The Ystumcegid Cromlech, about three miles east of Criccieth. (7) That found on a farm called "Cromlech," near the village of Fourcrosses. (8) The neatly-shaped Cefn Amwlch Cromlech (locally known as Coetan Arthur), on the Cefn Amwlch side of Mynydd Cefn Amwlch or Mynydd Penllech. By the side of this are the remains of another cromlech. (9) That of Cilan Ucha, in the parish of Llanengan. (10) The Mynydd Tir Cwmmwd Cromlech, in the parish of Llanbedrog. (11) That known as Cwt y bugail, near Roewen; and (12) The Porth Llwyd Cromlech, near Trefriw. These "cromlechau" are doubtless the remains of the graves of chieftains or other important personages, and are of interest as indicating in all probability the old Neolithic centres of population in the districts where they occur. It is not impossible, too, that these ancient sepulchres bore originally some resemblance in their structure to

the primitive dwellings, or rather night-shelters, of the men of these parts, whose building materials would consist almost entirely at first of stones, earth, and clay, wood being scarce, as large tracts of Carnarvonshire were probably almost treeless even in remote times. The mind of early man in these districts would be continually haunted by earth and stones, and so he naturally developed considerable ingenuity in making the best use of these materials. The character of the early remains of man is generally conditioned by local necessities, and this appears to be verified in the case of" cromlechau." As the Rev. E. L. Barnwell pointed out in the Archæologia Cambrensis for 1874, there are hardly any traces of "cromlechau" in Wales, except in the counties of Pembroke, Merioneth, Carnarvon, Brecon, Anglesey, and Glamorgan. This connection of "cromlechau" with a supply of suitable stones is strikingly shown in the case of Merioneth, the western portion of which has far more early stone remain's in it than the eastern. In Pembrokeshire the greatest number of "cromlechau" are found where trap rocks are strewn over the surface; while in Anglesey there are numerous quartzose blocks that are very well adapted for megalithic structures. The same is also the case in Cornwall, Lower Brittany, and Guernsey. This relationship between the natural supply of material and the erection of "cromlechau" and other megalithic structures is well brought out by M. Emile Cartailhac, in his valuable works on the "Prehistoric Age in France and in Spain and Portugal."

In dealing with man in the prehistoric period, we can conveniently regard him in the environment (a) of his life; (b) of his death. As for Neolithic man in the surroundings of his life, it cannot be said that any of the remains of ancient hut-dwellings or fortifications now extant in Carnarvonshire can be assigned to the period when the use of metal was unknown. Yet, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the dwellings of the Age of metal, owing to the continuity of method in