Castlebythe ( cy, Cas-fuwch) is a village and

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 or ...

in Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the southern slopes of the

Preseli Hills The Preseli Hills or, as they are known locally and historically, Preseli Mountains, (Welsh: ''Mynyddoedd y Preseli / Y Preselau'' , ) is a range of hills in western Wales, mostly within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The range stret ...

, 10 km south-east of

Fishguard Fishguard ( cy, Abergwaun, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,419 in 2011; the community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5,407. Modern Fishguard consists of two ...

. The northern part of the parish is in the

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Penfro) is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of three national parks in Wales, the others be ...

. Together with the parishes of Henry's Moat, Little Newcastle, Morvil and

Puncheston Puncheston ( cy, Cas-mael or Casmael) is a village, parish and community in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. It sits below the mountain known as Castlebythe ( en, Cow Castle), one of the peaks in the Preseli Mountains The Preseli Hills ...

, it constitutes the

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, villag ...

of Puncheston.

Name

The

Welsh placename The place-names of Wales derive in most cases from the Welsh language, but have also been influenced by linguistic contact with the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Anglo-Normans and modern English. Toponymy in Wales reveals significant featur ...

(shortened from ''Castell Fuwch'') means "Cow castle", and is perhaps a mocking name for an abandoned fortification, inhabited only by cows. The English placename form is a corruption of the Welsh.

History

There is a prominent early- Norman

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively eas ...

close to the village. There are a few English placenames in the southern part of the parish, but there is no evidence to suggest large-scale English colonisation in the medieval period, and the parish has always been essentially Welsh-speaking.

Church

The church of St Michael was rebuilt in 1875 to the designs of Edwin Dolby. It has since been largely demolished. The parish had an area of 1047 ha. Its

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

populations were: 174 (1801): 266 (1851): 155 (1901): 102 (1951): 80 (1981). The percentage of

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

speakers was 100 (1891): 98 (1931): 75 (1971).

References

External links

Castlebythe on GenukiPhotos of Castlebythe and surrounding area on geograph.org.uk
{{authority control Villages in Pembrokeshire Puncheston