10
THE SEVERN TUNNEL.
Description of the Severn. employment to a number of people. The place is known as ‘Caldicot Pyll.’
It is rather a puzzle to an ordinary Englishman to find every little stream where it enters the sea or a greater river, in this district, called ‘Pyll;’ and again to find the same word used all round Glastonbury and applied to the drains in the marshes there. The word in the Welsh is ‘Pwll,’ and corresponds to the English ‘Pool,’ though we seem slightly to have altered the original signification.
This description of the Severn estuary and the country immediately adjoining the tunnel may be found useful in understanding the history of the work itself, and explaining many of the difficulties that were encountered when the works were being carried out.