Ambleston ( cy, Treamlod) is a village,

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

, and

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying seven miles (11 km) north-north-east of

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest (, ; cy, Hwlffordd ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a community, being the second most populous community in the county, ...

. The parish includes the hamlets of Wallis and

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

( cy, Wstog).

Name

The English and Welsh

placename Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

s both mean "Amlot's farm", Amlot being a

Norman-French Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to descri ...

personal name.

Location and demographics

The northern border of the parish is an

ancient trackway Historic roads (historic trails in USA and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient trackways ...

leading towards

St David's St Davids or St David's ( cy, Tyddewi, , "David's house”) is a city and a community (named St Davids and the Cathedral Close) with a cathedral in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Alun. It is the resting place of Saint David, W ...

, which crosses through a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

farmstead called "Castell Fflemish". This line is also the northern boundary of the cantref of Daugleddau, and was described by George Owen in 1602 as the language frontier, placing Ambleston in Little England beyond Wales. Ambleston was one of the parishes Owen described as bilingual, and in modern times it was predominantly Welsh-speaking. The 2011 census showed 34.3 per cent of Ambleston community's population could speak Welsh, a fall from 39.4 per cent in 2001. Historically, the percentage of Welsh speakers was 86 (1891): 79 (1931): 57 (1971). In 1934, a small part of the parish was transferred to the parish of St Dogmells. The pre-1934 parish had an area of . Its census populations were: 421 (1801): 598 (1851): 386 (1901): 358 (1951): 309 (1981). The community had a population of 367 in 2001 increasing to 382 at the 2011 census.

Governance

With the communities of Spittal and Wiston, it makes up the Pembrokeshire electoral ward of Wiston.

Archaeology

A kilometer north of the village is a four-sided low bank enclosing an area some 80m across, at , SN007267. The feature had been presumed to relate to Roman military activity, and became known as Castle Flemish, or Castell Ffleming. It also came to be associated with the name 'Ad Vigessimum', a fort described by Richard of Cirencester, but this is now thought spurious. An excavation in 1922 by

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales an ...

found Roman brick and flue tiles, along with various Roman ceramics and roof tiles. These indicate a compound including a bathhouse and living area, and is considered to be a late first-century farmstead or

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

. In the nineteenth century there were rumours of a 'golden table' being found here but these remain unsubstantiated. The site is a

Scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

A second ancient monument is also in Ambleston Community. Parc-y-Llyn Burial Chamber is at , SM982265. Potentially a neolithic chambered tomb, this feature has a capstone 2.0 m across resting on four low uprights. It was first noted in 1871 and scheduled in 1938, and a neolithic origin would date it to 4400 to 2900 BC. However an absence of substantiating finds mean questions have been raised about its authenticity.

References

External links