FORMER Ceredigion MP Cynog Dafis has written to the owners of his former Talgarreg home expressing concerns that its original Welsh name has been replaced by an English one, it has emerged.

Mr Dafis, who served as the county’s Plaid MP from 1992 until 2000, used to live in Crugyreryr Uchaf at Talgarreg, with his wife Llinos.

But he has written to the current owners on learning that the name Upper Eagle Farm is being used in marketing material to advertise a glamping site registered at the address.

It is understood the owners maintain the name of the property itself has not been changed, and that the address is still registered as Crugyreryr Uchaf.

However, Mr Dafis, 83, has warned that the replacement of Welsh place names with English ones is a “threat to the identity of the nation” and is now urging the owners of what is now a glamping site to reconsider.

In an open letter to Ceredigion County Council, Mr and Mrs Dafis claimed that the Welsh language place name was to be found on maps as far back as the Middle Ages, and that it was an ‘act of cultural vandalism’ to replace it with an English one."

The letter to the new owners stated: “As previous residents of Crugeryr Uchaf it is a source of anguish (though not a shock) to know that you gave the place an English name.

“Over the 38 years we were in Crugeryr Uchaf it was a source of pride that we lived in a place with such a dignified name.

“It is important for you to know how ancient and significant this name is.

“It is to be found on maps from the Middle Ages, which means it goes back even further – at least a millennium, which goes back to the period when Wales was formed as a nation.

“Ever since then the residents of Ceredigion used the name with pride.

“It is an act of cultural vandalism to put an English name in its place, even in a bilingual form you have, we understand, adopted.”

The letter added: “Unfortunately your act is part of a wider pattern. Across Wales original Welsh names are being replaced with English names. To a large extent, place names define Wales’ landscape.

“The increasing habit of replacing Welsh names with English ones is therefore a threat to the identity of the nation.

“When English people, and other people from the outside, move to Wales to live, the least we have the right to expect is for them to respect the linguistic heritage of their new home.”