Talk:Rhossili

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[edit] Viking settlement

Just a note on why I removed this passage: "On top of Rhossili Down is Sweyne's Howes, the burial place of Sweyne the Viking who founded the modern day city of Swansea[citation needed]. (The name Swansea is derived from Sweyne's Ey). The Vikings also settled in many parts of Gower, including Rhossili: the Helwick Channel and Worms Head are both Norse names."

The jury is still out on practically every part of this. They are megalithic tombs, for a start: when did the Vikings start using those? There are three pages of discussion on the origin of the placename "Swansea" and another page and a half on "Sweyne's Howes" alone in Gwyneth O Pierce's Placenames in Glamorgan. Pierce prefers an origin from "Swine house" (there are a couple of Welsh farm names involving pigs locally) for the latter, and doesn't go for the Sweyne theory at all: "one suspects a contrived antiquarian influence". I think the closest you're going to get is the comment in A Guide to Gower (see refs) that "Tradition has it that this is the burial place of Sweyn, the Scandinavian sea-lord who may have given his name to Swansea". Note the "tradition has it" and "may have". There is no proof. Telsa (talk) 10:41, 20 June 2006 (UTC)