The social factors which brought about the dominance of English in Wales, and which have set in motion the process of language shift, have been political, economic and educational. The nineteenth century, culminating in the spread of formal primary education following the Education Act of 1888, was the period which saw the tipping of the linguistic scales in Wales. The English language functioned as the language of commerce, law, government and education, the major social institutions, admittedly, but Welsh had its prestigious institution in the Nonconformist religion of the chapels. The southern part of the old county of Pembrokeshire has been Anglicised since medieval times. In the south - particularly in the industrial south, in the Glamorgans - and in the eastern counties which border with England, there are already indigenous English dialects which have strong affinities with the English dialects of the west midlands and the south-west of England, superimposed on distinct substratal Welsh influences.