At > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/map.asp?ImageID=320 < this week's Genealogy.com issue has a map of Wales and England in 1641. While we (I anyway) tend to think of Gloucestershire and that area as England bordering Wales, in 1641 it actually was Wales. That would imply Welsh origins for the name. However, I am still taking heat from my French friend who swears it is anglicized Norman. He uses Craig's line about Poi being red and thress being next door to tress in the sense of a conspicuous or decorative beard. Then when I told him of the signs on farms around Newent reading Poydresse he became obnoxiously positive. You pays your money and you takes your chances. But the map is interesting anyway. Maynard