Cwm Talwg

[Gerald Copp]

'Cwm Talwg' is 'the valley [cwm] of Talwg', which may be
the name of a person [I just don't know, perhaps someone can help].

Across Pontypridd Road is 'Nant Talwg'
which is the 'stream or brook [nant] of Talwg.

Near you are two other cwm's: at one end of Pontypridd
Road is 'Cwm Barry Way', the 'Valley of Barry' Way; perhaps you've
already found 'Cwmciddy' at the top end of Pontypridd Road. It was
a farm 30 years ago and was then turned into a pub. It is now a 'modern'
hostelry, complete with motel. The name should be 'Cwm Ci Ddu', the
'Valley of the Black Dog'.

[<><]

Hi I hope someone can help me? I have just moved into the area and I am
wondering if anyone knows the English Translation of the Wels Cwm Talwg or
its origins, and I wonder if someone can please tell me how I would say
living waters in Welsh please. Regards Paul <><

[Dave Thomas]

In article <7lre7c$r12$1...@nclient5-gui.server.ntli.net>, <><
<unit...@net.ntl.com> writes

My Welsh is not good but I suspect it probably derives from Tal=high.
There is a Talawg in Carmarthen meaning high fronted and talawg seems to
be a name given to *high houses* ie not a cottage. So my bet would be
that it either means a high sided valley or a valley that had a large
(possibly manor) house.

Unless of course someone knows better!!

dave
--
Dave Thomas

[Dave Thomas]

In article <7lt37n$rn1$1...@clyde.open.ac.uk>, Gerald Copp
<G.C...@open.ac.uk> writes

>I think the place in Camarthen is Talog, Dave, not Talwg, but you may
>be on the right track when you talk about a high sided valley. Barry
>rises steeply from the sea and Cwm Talwg may well be a 'valley on a
>high ridge'. And 'Nant Talwg' the 'stream on a high ridge'.

Apparently the Carmarthen name Talog is a corruption of the Welsh Talawg
and in this case it derives from "a high house".
>
>The Welsh Language Board's link line couldn't help, but it sounds more
>plausible than 'Talwg' being the name of a saint cum druid.

I agree, (although according to Heini Gruffudd, the male name Talog is
known, after the name of the village).
--
Dave Thomas

[Extoad]

Valley on a high ridge? I'm trying to imagine it...sounds like a bit of a
geomorphological contradiction to me. Nah. Maybe not a saint or druid, but
the point was to consider 'Talwg' as simply someone's name.
Extoad

[Gerald Copp]

Extoad wrote:
> Valley on a high ridge? I'm trying to imagine it...sounds like a bit
> of a geomorphological contradiction to me.

As Paul, the original poster can vouch (he lives there), starting at the
roundabout at Romilly School, you travel more or less north up hill
until you reach the top of a rise (bollards mark the spot where a young
cyclists was killed when turning right just below the brow of the
hill) and then the road, still going north, dips and, at the entrances
to both Nant Talwg and Cwm Talwg, rises again to the roundabout near
the Cwmciddy (Cwm Ci Ddu) Motel. Cwm Talwg and Nant Talwg form a
valley dropping east to west, down into Porthkerry and the sea,
a thus fulfilling one of the definitions of a cwm.

Talwg _may_ be a personal name, but Dave's idea is equally valid IMO.

[Starbuck]

>>>Valley on a high ridge? I'm trying to imagine it...sounds like a bit of a
geomorphological contradiction to me<<<

The correct geophysical term would be a "saddle". It's entirely feasible.

--
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[Extoad]

aka a 'col'

[Gerald Copp]

I have now found a spelling of Nant Halog for Nant Talwg (Moore, D.
(1984) Barry: The Centenary Book). From 'halogi' meaning 'to pollute',
I wonder if the residence of that salubrious development know that it
appears the Nant was/is polluted!