Rhyl place names

Rhyl place names

Rhyl is known in Welsh as Y Rhyl. The name is a linguistic mongrel – the English word hill preceded by the Welsh definite article yr. Early written references include Hulle (1292), Hyll (1506), Yrhill (1578) and Rhyll (1660).

But where is this hill? Rhyl is built on flat coastal land. One possibility is that there was some raised ground here, standing just high enough above the surrounding marshland to justify being named a hill. Another theory is that there was an artificial motte here, an outpost of the English castle at Rhuddlan.

With thanks to Prof Hywel Wyn Owen, of the Welsh Place-Name Society