The town of Narberth, located in the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire, is easily what one would call varied. For one, over a third of the population of Narberth speaks Welsh. This isn't by any means the largest ratio of Welsh speakers for a Welsh town, as some places in Wales have the English language as the minority. All the same, it is striking that this blend of English and Welsh succeeds so admirably. The key to this success, though, can be uncovered simply by looking into the past of this lovely and historic town.
While it is true that Narberth arose as a Welsh town, it was soon taken over by the Normans during their powerful reign. The time frame would have been some time around the 1000s and the county of Pembrokeshire was particularly susceptible to control from outsiders. Because of this, Narberth enjoys a very diversified existence that owes as much to its Welsh lineage as it does to that of the Normans and the English. In spite of this, the Welsh influence shows through quite brightly in many spots. The most notable of these is likely the story of Pwyll.
The mythology of Wales is as rich as that of any other culture and in some cases it is even more interesting. The town of Narberth plays heavily in the story of the mythological hero Pwyll, who was a prince of the town of Dyfed. The "Four Branches of the Mabinogi" is one of the most famous stories in the entire canon and in the first chapter of this tale Pwyll encounters the Lord of Annwn. Annwn was the fictional alternate world that was set apart from Wales and the Lord of this area was known as Arawn. At any rate, Pwyll traded places with Arawn for a year in order to secure a deal and Arawn lived in Pwyll's expansive manor located in, you guessed it, Narberth. Narberth continues to factor significantly in later chapters of the Four Branches saga and thus the town has a huge spot in the hearts of many a citizen of Wales. The famed Narberth Castle was reopened several years ago and, to commemorate the event, a special performance of this story was staged for the residents of the town and anybody else who wished to witness the show and were lucky enough to be in the area.
Though the tales of Pwyll are most likely completely fictional, it makes sense that ancient storytellers would use Narberth as a setting for their finest stories. The town seems to exude that sense of magic and wonder that must have been in great supply in the days before technology and science. Even today Narberth seems like a town from another era or, quite possibly, another world. Could it be that Arawn and Pwyll didn't exchange places but instead exchanged universes? At any rate, the best way to experience the wonder of Narberth is simply to visit the town and see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
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