History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 50

FLEMISH SETTLEMENT IN THE U.K.
ORIGIN : http://forums.skadi.net/showthread.php?t=96170

Wales:
How refugees from Flanders (Belgium) found themselves creating a little England
beyond Wales in Pembrokeshire.
Back in the 12th century, Flanders - a region of Belgium - had been devastated by
floods and was becoming dangerously overpopulated. Many Flemings escaped to
England. Initially welcomed, they soon began to irritate their hosts.
Henry I's solution to this little local difficulty was to shift them en masse to a remote
farming settlement in south Pembrokeshire.
It was a move that created a divide in Pembrokeshire between the native Welsh
and the incoming Flemish/English that exists to this day. The legacy of 12th century
Flemish incomers is 'Little England beyond Wales.
Castles were built - the Landsker Line stretched from Newgale to Amroth. The
Chronicle of the Welsh Princes records "a certain folk of strange origins and
customs occupy the whole cantref of Rhôs the estuary of the river Cleddau, and
drove away all the inhabitants of the land". It was almost ethnic cleansing.
The influx of Flemings was so great the Welsh language was eradicated south of
the divide. Flemish gradually gave way to English but with a distinctive dialect and
accent - traces of which can still be heard today.
The region has kept its anglicised culture and sense of separation ever since. Until
19th century it was the only English-speaking area of Wales away from the English
border.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/s...flanders.shtml

Since the accession of William I many Flemings had settled in England. They did
not get on well with the English, and so Henry I moved them to South Pembroke,
where they would be useful in helping to keep the Welsh in check. This is of
course the beginning of 'Little England beyond Wales'. It is probable that the
English speaking people on the south side of the Gower Peninsula were settled
there
about
the
same
time
and
for
the
same
reason.
(True also of Kidwelly as its first Charter has been dated to be at the latest 1114.)
W.J.M.
(1107 Brut y Tywysogion)
A CERTAIN nation, not recognized in respect of origin and manners, and
unknown as to where it had been concealed in the island for a number of years,
was sent by King Henry into the country of Dyved. And that nation seized the
whole cantred of Rhos, near the efflux of the river called Cleddyw, having driven
off the people completely. That nation, as it is said, came from Flanders, the
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