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Landsker Line
The Landsker Line (Welsh: Ffin ieithyddol Sir Benfro) is a term used for the language border in Wales between the largely Welsh-speaking and largely English-speaking areas in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. The English-speaking areas, south of the Landsker line and sometimes known as Little England beyond Wales, are notable for having been English linguistically for many centuries despite being far from the England–Wales border.
During the 11th and 12th centuries both invaders and defenders built more than fifty castles during a complex period of conflict, effectively to consolidate the line. The southernmost was Laugharne; others included Wiston, Camrose, Narberth, and Roch. 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 Norman-dominated area, the two great fortresses were at Pembroke and Haverfordwest. There were other fortresses within the colonised area as well, including Manorbier, Carew and Tenby.
The Landsker has changed position many times, first moving north into the foothills of Mynydd Preseli 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 gain interest in the linguistic divide, they used the term "landsker", or "lansker", for example by Richard Fenton in 1810, though the term had been used much earlier by antiquarian George Owen of Henllys in 1603. It remains in common use. Local people may not be familiar with the term, but they recognise that the language divide stretching from St Bride's Bay to Carmarthen Bay remains very distinct.[citation needed]
The differences in the proportion of Welsh speakers persists in the 21st century and is illustrated by the map derived from the 2011 census.
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics reported in 2015 "unexpectedly stark differences between inhabitants in the north and south of the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire" in DNA signatures.
Until recently, intermarriage between the cultures north or south of the divide had been discouraged:[citation needed] those from the north were Non-conformist, and those from the south were mainly Catholic and Anglican.[citation needed]
The term Landsker is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin used in southwest England and along the anglicised South Wales 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, its official use became obsolete at the end of the eighteenth century.
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Landsker Line AI simulator
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Landsker Line
The Landsker Line (Welsh: Ffin ieithyddol Sir Benfro) is a term used for the language border in Wales between the largely Welsh-speaking and largely English-speaking areas in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. The English-speaking areas, south of the Landsker line and sometimes known as Little England beyond Wales, are notable for having been English linguistically for many centuries despite being far from the England–Wales border.
During the 11th and 12th centuries both invaders and defenders built more than fifty castles during a complex period of conflict, effectively to consolidate the line. The southernmost was Laugharne; others included Wiston, Camrose, Narberth, and Roch. 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 Norman-dominated area, the two great fortresses were at Pembroke and Haverfordwest. There were other fortresses within the colonised area as well, including Manorbier, Carew and Tenby.
The Landsker has changed position many times, first moving north into the foothills of Mynydd Preseli 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 gain interest in the linguistic divide, they used the term "landsker", or "lansker", for example by Richard Fenton in 1810, though the term had been used much earlier by antiquarian George Owen of Henllys in 1603. It remains in common use. Local people may not be familiar with the term, but they recognise that the language divide stretching from St Bride's Bay to Carmarthen Bay remains very distinct.[citation needed]
The differences in the proportion of Welsh speakers persists in the 21st century and is illustrated by the map derived from the 2011 census.
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics reported in 2015 "unexpectedly stark differences between inhabitants in the north and south of the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire" in DNA signatures.
Until recently, intermarriage between the cultures north or south of the divide had been discouraged:[citation needed] those from the north were Non-conformist, and those from the south were mainly Catholic and Anglican.[citation needed]
The term Landsker is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin used in southwest England and along the anglicised South Wales 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, its official use became obsolete at the end of the eighteenth century.