During the reign of King Henry VIII of England, the Acts of Union of
1536 and 1542 forcibly united Wales with England, prohibited all
official use of the Welsh language, and required the Welsh to commence
using surnames that could be recorded in English. Within Wales, there
were regional differences in how the historic Welsh naming system was
translated into surnames. The incorporation of the Welsh preposition
"ap" (son of) as part of the surname occurred with greatest relative
frequency in the Welsh counties (shires) closest to England.
According to research by John Rowlands (1999, Second Stages in
Researching Welsh Ancestry, chapter 11, page 168, figure 11-3), the
highest incidence occurred in Breconshire (Brecknockshire), where
25-30% of surnames incorporated "ap." Radnorshire, immediately to the
north, where 20-25% of surnames incorporated "ap," was almost as high.
One such surname is "AP RHYS" or "AP REES" and its anglicized
variants (PREECE, PREES, PRICE, PRIEST, PRYCE, etc.). Rowlands
reports that "PRICE," which comprises 1.35% of surnames in Wales as a
whole, has a "heavy concentration (up to 12%) in Breconshire and
Radnorshire" (1999, page 173).
Part of the historical boundary (1543-1974) between Breconshire (to
the south) and neighboring Radnorshire (to the north) was the River
Claren. The River Claren, coming from the west, flows into the River
Wye, coming from the northeast, at the following coordinate.
Confluence of River Claren & River Wye
52°16'45.27"N
3°30'58.56"W
This confluence is 1.4 miles south of the historic Mid-Wales market
town, Rhayader (Rhaiadr), Powys, UK.
The northernmost village in historical Brecknockshire (Breconshire)
appears to have been Llanwyrthl, located on the west bank of the River
Wye, 1.3 miles SSE of the confluence of River Claren and River Wye at
the following coordinate.
Llanwyrthl, Breconshire, Powys, UK
52°15'44.51"N
3°30'7.13"W
Rowlands, J. (1999). The homes of surnames in Wales. In J. Rowlands
& S. Rowlands (Eds.), Second stages in researching Welsh ancestry (ch.
11, pp. 161-176). Aberystwyth, Wales: The Federation of Family
History Societies Ltd.; Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co.