Welshpool place names

Welshpool place names

Welshpool was once simply known as Pool or The Pool, possibly named after a feature where the river Lledan joins the river Severn. It appears in documents as Pole in 1196 and Pola (Latin for “pool”) in 1254. “Welsh” was added as a prefix to Pool to distinguish the town from places in England called Pool and Poole. Walshe Pole is first noted in 1477.

The Welsh name for the town is Y Trallwng meaning “muddy place”, referring either to the area near the “pool” or a particular part of the once marshy course of the river Lledan. The name also referred to the northern part of Welshpool known as Trallwng Llywelyn (recorded from c.1400) or Welsh Town, and to the southern part of the town Trallwng Gollen (recorded from 1310) around Powis Castle. Both these names are thought to contain the personal-names Llywelyn and Gollwyn but nothing is known for certain of either.

To hear how to pronounce Y Trallwng, press play: Or, download mp3 (16KB)

With thanks to Richard Morgan, of the Welsh Place-Name Society