(History question) Why were Wales and Cornwall able to hold out so long against the English compared to the other British kingdoms?

5 comments

1. Sorry this post is so long but not really sure where to point this question so I thought it was worth a shot here.

   I was wondering when you see those maps from like 500ad where the “Welsh” (Britons) control like all of Britain and the English only control small coastal regions and couldn’t seem to understand how the all of the land in eastern and northern england got conquered by Anglo Saxons whereas present Wales and Cornwall (maybe Cumbria) lasted so long in comparison and still have Celtic elements within their culture today.

   My question is mainly why did Wales happen to outlast all the other bits for so long? was it to do with how hilly it is or something as lots of England is hilly but the Celtic culture died out mostly in England. And how did England go from such tiny little parts and reverse the situation?

   If anyone answered I would be grateful as when I looked it up online there wasn’t really a specific answer to do with this.

2. Hills!

3. Hills, low quality farmland along the borders of Wales and Cornwall, and determined resistance by denizens of these areas . The historical record is too patchy to say very much more. But if you visit the Welsh marches the land elevation is often quite dramatic where England ends. Brythonic culture in Cumbria and Strathclyde lasted longer for the same reasons.

4. Solid init

5. I had actually noticed the change in land, especially between Shrewsbury and Welshpool