Of these forms, " Patricio," though it looks like another form of "Patricius," and at first seems to connect the place with the great Irish family of Brychan, is neither Irish nor Welsh, and does not occur earlier than the last century. The earliest and most indisputable name is that recorded in the consecration, viz., "Merthir issiu." The next mention of the place is in the sixteenth century Peniarth MS. 147 (c. 1566), which gives it under the "Kwmwd of ystrad dyw issa' as "Pertrissw"; and in the Myfyrian Archaiology (Denbigh, p. 747) under "Plwyfau Cymru" as "P. Partrisw.' And in a presentation to the rectory of Llanbedr in 1555, it is described as "the chapel of Llanysho".... otherwise "Partrisso." In all these forms it will be noted that the original dedication "Issiu" pronounced "Ishow," is preserved: but whence came the "Part-" or "Patr-"? The suggestion that "Patr" is only a transposition of "Part," will not hold, nor is it more likely that "Patr" or "Parthyr' is only a form of "Merthyr," as there is no authority for the change of "M" into "P." It is more probable, I think, that there has been some confusion between the names of "Issiu" the Martyr and "Is-yw" the commote; and that the former has been absorbed, if not forgotten, in the latter; so that "Parth-yr-Isyw," the district of "Isyw" has in popular nomenclature superseded the earlier "Merthyr Issiu" or "Ishow." The survival of the original name in that of the Holy Well of the place, "Ffynnon Ishow," if it does not solve the question as to the correct form of the name, does at least settle the point that "Patricio" is not tenable.3 We are thus carried back to the early

1 The Book of Llandav, p. 279.

2 In the Diocesan Registry the name is given variously: "1661, Partrishoe; 1721, Patriceo and Patrishow; 1724, Patrisho; 1766, Partricio, and 1793, Patricio."—T. W. Barker.

3 According to the late Mr. G. T. Clark's Genealogies of Morgan and Glamorgan, p. 340, there was a "Patricio in Trallong," the property of Sir Edward Aubrey, Sheriff of Brecon, 1588 to

century of St. Ishow, and we try to recall the circumstances of his original foundation. We picture to ourselves the wild condition of the country, the hills covered with forest scrub,' and the valleys hardly passable for swamps. In summer time only it is probable that these uplands were occupied by swineherds and shepherds; in winter they were deserted for more genial homesteads. The Silurian tribes, who had enjoyed comparative peace after their subjection to the Romans, broken only by intertribal feuds, had been left to their own protection by the withdrawal of their conquerors; and they had not long to wait to test their mettle and prove that they had not lost their ancient fire. The advancing hordes of the Saxons came pressing upon them. From the uplands above Partrishow, on the slope of the Black Mountain, they could see the smoke of the burning homesteads beyond Cwm Yoy and across the Hatterill Hills and along the plain of Herefordshire; and though they might not hear the clash of sword and spear, many a horseman may have dashed by to carry the terrible news and call their countrymen to arms, and many a wounded and weary footman may have come to take refuge and to rest in the secluded dingles at its foot. Hither, too, may have sped, in terror and agony, women and children escaping for their lives to safer quarters. Such scenes must have been but too common in those troublous times, and they were renewed in later days when Offa the Mercian thrust forward his kingdom to the Dyke which he erected at a distance of not more than twelve or fifteen miles away, and which still appears to mark the eastern limit of Welsh place-names. It requires,

1599. But this seems to have been a mistake on his part, as there is no such place known in Trallong through either record or tradition.

1 It might be thought that "Perth", a bush or scrub, supplies an alternative clue to the change from "Merthyr" to "Perth-yr," and so to "Pertr issw" and "Partr-ishow," and that "Tyn llwyn" (the house in the copse), below the church, represents that primitive condition.

therefore, no great effort of the imagination to realise the consoling and inspiring influence which would be exercised by a holy recluse, or by some devoted missionary, who pitched his humble oratory among such surroundings; or the peril of life at which he made his pious venture; indeed, the epithet "Merthyr' settles that point. A house of prayer, a holy counsellor, a sanctuary from civil and foreign strife, must have attracted many a pilgrim and sped him on his way, and so the humble oratory grew in reputation, in extent and influence. The mud walls and leafy covering (a-deil-ad) must have passed through many gradations of wattle and dab, of timber and of stone; but the site would be clung to as hallowed ground, for there was the altar with all its sacred and ever-accruing associations. At first, no doubt, it was dwelling and oratory all in one; but by degrees they were divided. off; and when at last a room was raised above for the priest and his passing guests, the stone altar with its five crosses retained its old position; and its solemnity was increased by a shrine with either the figure of the founder or, as more likely, a statue of the Virgin. Not long after this, it is probable that the church was added on to its east wall, which was also pierced through with a hagioscope, through which the two altars could be seen from the western chapel: and those within it could participate with those in the nave in the " privileges" of hearing mass and of witnessing the elevation of the Host.1

Indeed, the actual time when this took place appears to be fixed by the rare inscription on the font, "Menhir me fecit i' te'pore Genillin," for "Cynhyllyn, or

.

1 "Pump rinwedd offeren sul ynt y rei hynn. cyntaf o honunt yw bod yn hwy dy hoedyl. ar vod pob offeren vyth a wrandewych. Eil yw maddeu dy vwyt amryt or sul y gilydd. Trydydd yw maddeu dy van pechoden or sul y gilydd. Pedwerydd yw a gerddych y gyrchu offeren Sul. bot yn gytal itt. a phei as roddut o dref dy tat yn dirdawn y Dduw. Pymhet yw. ot a dyn yr Purdan gorffwys a geiff. yn gyhyt a phob offeren a wrandawo."Hengwrt MSS. xi, 295 and 296.

Cenhillyn Voel, was the only son and heir of Rhys Goch and Lord of Ystradyw; and this is remarkably confirmed by the record in the Book of Llandav that "In Ystrad Yw (Hereward, Bishop of Llandaff, 10551103) consecrated the church of Llanfihangel (Cwmdu) and the church of Llangenny and Llanbedr, and Merthyr Issiu; and he committed the cure of those churches to Madweith and to Isaac after him, and to Beatus the priest, whom the Bishop himself had ordained to the priesthood, and whom he continued to hold in all episcopal subjection in the time of King William, and of William the Earl and Walter de Lasci." Many points of interest are opened up in this statement.

1. We note that the consecration took place in the time of the independent native lords of Ystradyw, before it had been overrun by Bernard Newmarch and his Normans.

2. We see that up to this time it had been and was in the diocese of Llandaff, and that its transfer to St. David's must have followed after the Norman occupation.

3. We need not suppose that this "consecration. meant that there had been no churches in this part before; but we gather that they received a new and more definite ecclesiastical status. Most likely, indeed, they were rebuilt on a new or larger plan, and a definite cure of souls attached to them, where previously they had been served from the mother-church of Cwmdu, under the shadow of Cynhyllyn's castle at Tretower. In this particular instance it may have been a rebuilding in stone; for Giraldus Cambrensis, in describing

1 Jones's Brecknockshire, 2nd ed., p. 378.

Inistratyw consecravit ecclesiam sancti michaelis. et ecclesiam lann cetguinn et lannpetyr. et merthir issiu. et curam ecclesiarum illarum commendauit matgueith et isaac post illum. et beato presbitero quos ipse episcopus ordinaverat in presbiteros. et quos tenuit inomni episcopali subjectione tempore uuillelmi regis. et comitis uuillelmi. et uualteri delaci."-Book of Llandav, ed. 1893, p. 279. 3 It may be noted that Gwladus, the sister of Cynhyllyn, was the wife of Ynyr, King of Gwent.

Llanthoni a hundred years later, makes special mention of the material: "lapideo tabulatu pro loci natura non indecenter extructa"-" built of wrought stone, and, considering the nature of the place, not unhandsomely constructed."

4. The record on the font implies that the church had now at least the privilege of a "Capella baptismalis," and its designation as, not a vicarage but a "rectory annexed," supports this inference.

5. When, therefore, Bishop Herewald consecrated the church, did he re-dedicate it in the old name of "Ishow," or did he, as was so often the case, adopt a new dedication? I am led to conclude that he adopted the usual practice, and dedicated it in the name of the Virgin; or, even if the chancel were added later as a Lady-chapel, the same rule would apply to that addition. That there was a dedication to the Virgin is shown by the name of the stream which flows below it, Nant Mair (St. Mary's brook), and by the name of the roadside farm, "Llanfair"; but that this did not supersede the older one is testified, as already noticed, by the survival of the name of the Holy Well as "Ffynnon Ishow," and by the general appellation of the church and parish.

6. We do not know the exact date of the succession of Cenhillyn to his father, Rhys Goch's, lordship, but Herewald's episcopate began in 1056, and William's reign in 1066; and we may put down the institution, if not also the consecration, to soon after that event.

7. The institution of Madweith and his successors is extremely interesting, and is almost unique for its early date and the names of the individuals instituted. The churches put in charge represented practically the whole of the Lordship, and it was treated as one parish; and so, when a controversy arose later on between the 1 The Itinerary, p. 354.

2 The four altars (for there must have been one in the chancel) would still fall short of the five at Llanddewi Brefi; "Pym allawr breui."-Myf. Ar., p. 196.