Today, we attended a luncheon in the Wynnstay Hotel in Oswestry - the other side of Offa's dyke. Should note that the Wynnstay became a four star hotel this week - so congratulations. Now you might wonder what this has to do with a photograph of the tie I wore. Well, the luncheon was to celebrate St George's Day, and as one of the very few non English present I felt I should try to make a provocative statement. All the other men wore a red rose. I've always thought of Oswestry as almost part of Wales anyway, and the organisers of the luncheon must have warm feelings towards the Celts, because the guest speaker was a Cornishman. One speaker made what I thought was rather a good joke about today's menu when he referred to his concern after reading that he was expected ' to enjoy roast beef and pea soup' on the invitation. He said he knew how to enjoy roast beef but.......
3 comments:
Ah good old 'Soswallt, where the HSBC's cash machines have a Cymraeg option... It's a shame the census doesn't ask about the Welsh language in border areas.
But the Oswestry border anomaly is historically quite interesting. Of the two halves of Powys, one, Powys Wenwynwyn, essentially became Montgomeryshire as a result of the Laws in Wales Act, 1535; the other, Powys Fadog, was split between Denbighshire, Flintshire (detached), Shropshire, and Merioneth. It's a tempting hypothesis that Powys Fadog got this treatment (including moving its main town into England) out of a fear of a repeat of the events of 120 years previous. It would only be a slight hyperbole to speak of a missing county of Oswestryshire.
So maybe next year, you should make them enjoy roast lamb and cawl cennin!
James - Oswestry also has a great deal of Welsh Language spoken there, especially on a Wednesday, when the Livstock Market is open. For many years it used to be my 'second' market, and was particularly well known for the sale of Fat cattle
Ah yes .. my native town. By far the most Welsh town in England. Huge amount of cross-border traffic - my nephew went to Llanfyllin High for instance
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