Llanfair Pwll Gwyngyll
SIR,—This pleasant little village has groaned long enough under the oppressive weight of the monstrous and fictitious name. Llanfairpw11- gwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobw11-11andysiliogogogoch. Its real name, which is quite long enough without any improvement, is Llanfair Pwll Gwyngyll, and in everyday speech this becomes Llanfair Pw11. Its English equivalent would be " St. Mary's by the White Hazel Pool," and all the additions about hollows, red caves, whirlpools and St. Tysilio's church are imaginary. The bogus name quoted in Brewster's Dictionary was invented last, century to attract visitors to this part of Anglesey, and has since been perpetuated by the astonished foreigner and the manufacturers of comic postcards. It is rather as if the publicity-mongers had sought to make the lovely Worcestershire village of Broadway an international curiosity by renaming it Broadwayinthecot- swoldh illsnotsofarfromeveshaminthewesternregionofbritish railways. -By all means let your correspondent Mr. T. L. Littlewood have his fun over spelling this bogus name (though Mr. Littlewood's correction of Janus includes—if the printers have done him justice—two errors, whereas Janus only made one), but English visitors would find the pleasure of their travels in Wales enhanced if they were to forget such nonsense and come to feel the charm of Welsh place-names by learning to pronounce and understand them.—Yours faithfully,
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