:Partrishow

Image:Partrishow Church.jpg

Partrishow, also known as Patricio, Patrishow, or by its Welsh names Merthyr Isw and Llanisw, is a small village and historic parish in the county of Powys (historically Brecknockshire), close to its border with Monmouthshire. It is in the valley of the Grwyne Fawr, in the Black Mountains of South Wales, within the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Name

The eariest recorded form of the name, as found in the Book of Llandaf (c.1120s), is merthir issiu. This is the Welsh word merthyr ('burial site, shrine, church') and what is probably a personal name which in modern Welsh would be Isiw or Isw. Melville Richards gives Merthyr Isw as a modern form of the parish's name.{{Cite book |last=Richard |first=Melville |title=Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=1969 |isbn=9780900768088 |publication-place=Cardiff |page=156 |language=en |oclc=35167}}

In 1555 the name appears as Llanysho.{{Cite book |last=Baring-Gould |first=S. |url=https://archive.org/details/livesofbritishsa03bariuoft/page/352/mode/2up |title=The lives of the British Saints: the Saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish Saints as have dedications in Britain |last2=Fisher |first2=John |publisher=The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion |year=1911 |volume=III |publication-place=London |pages=321}} In this case, the element llan ('enclosure, church') has replaced merthyr, as has happened in a number of similar names.{{Cite book |last=Parsons |first=David N. |title=Martyrs and Memorials: ‘Merthyr’ Place-Names and the Church in Early Wales |publisher=Canolfan Uwchefrydiau Cymreig a Cheltaidd Prifysgol Cymru |year=2013 |isbn=9781907029158 |series= |publication-place=Aberystwyth |language=en |oclc=874931175}} The name appears as Pertrissw in the list of parishes in National Library of Wales, Peniarth MS.147 (c.1566).

The modern English form is now Partrishow. In Welsh, the form Llanisw and Merthyr Isw may be found.

History and amenities

The village is noted for its outstanding grade I listed 11th-century Church of St Issui{{cite web |url=http://www.cpat.demon.co.uk/projects/longer/churches/brecon/16931.htm |publisher=Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust |title=Brecknockshire Churches Survey: Church of St Ishow, Partrishow |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190907204902/http://www.cpat.demon.co.uk/projects/longer/churches/brecon/16931.htm |archive-date=7 September 2019 |access-date=23 August 2021}}{{cite web |url=http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/rb/par.php?dosommat=detail&which=923 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206211036/http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/rb/par.php?dosommat=detail&which=923 |archive-date=6 February 2012 | publisher=The Church in Wales |title=Parishes |access-date=23 August 2021}}{{cite web |url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/BRE/Partrisio/Gaz1868.html |publisher=GENUKI |title=Partrisio / Partrishow |access-date=23 August 2021}} with an intricately carved 16th-century rood screen,{{cite web |url=http://web.ukonline.co.uk/blackmountains/partrishow_church.htm |title=Partrishow Church |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512181701/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/blackmountains/partrishow_church.htm |archive-date=12 May 2008 |access-date=23 August 2021}} mediaeval mural paintings,{{cite web |url=http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/22293 |title=Partrishow church interior, near Crickhowell |website=Gathering the Jewels |publisher= The National Library of Wales |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227093628/http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/22293 |archive-date=27 February 2007 |access-date=23 August 2021}} and one of the oldest fonts in Wales. The churchyard also contains a grade II* listed cross. The church was originally called Methur Issui ("Saint Issui the Martyr"), a corruption of Merthyr Ishaw or Ishow. It is now known as St Patrico. It avoided Victorian restoration, and its conservation was undertaken by W. D. Caröe in 1908–09, with further work on the churchyard in 1919.

References

Category:Villages in Powys

Category:Black Mountains, Wales