Little England beyond Wales

Little England beyond Wales is a name applied to an area of southern Pembrokeshire and southwestern Carmarthenshire in Wales, which has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from England. The language boundary with the Welsh-speaking area to the north is known as the Landsker Line. In the 16th century William Camden called the area Anglia Transwalliana, and today the Welsh call it Sir Benfro Saesneg ("English Pembrokeshire").

The name "Little England beyond Wales" denotes a part of south-west Wales that has been English in language and culture for many centuries despite its remoteness from the English border. The language boundary between this region and the area to the north where Welsh is more common, sometimes known as the Landsker Line, is noted for its sharpness and resilience. Although it is probably much older, the first known approximation of "Little England beyond Wales" was in the 16th century, when William Camden called the area Anglia Transwalliana. Most of the area is known in Welsh as Sir Benfro Saesneg, meaning "English Pembrokeshire".

The area was formerly part of the kingdom of Deheubarth, but it is unclear when it became distinguished from other parts of Wales. B. G. Charles gives a survey of the evidence for early non-Welsh settlements in the area. The Norse raided in the 9th and 10th centuries, and some may have settled, as they did in Gwynedd further north. There are scattered Scandinavian placenames in the area, mostly in the Hundred of Roose, north and west of the River Cleddau. The medieval Welsh chronicle Brut y Tywysogion mentions many battles in southwest Wales and sackings of Menevia (St David's) in the pre-Norman period. Sometimes these were stated to be conflicts with Saxons, sometimes with people of unspecified origin. The first explicit documentary evidence is that of Gerald of Wales and Brut y Tywysogyon, which record that "Flemings" were settled in south Pembrokeshire soon after the arrival of the Normans in the early 12th century. Gerald says this took place specifically in Roose.

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