Welsh Journals

Williams, J. G. Wood, John IN April of this year, Council workmen who were laying a water main cut through a section of the town wall of Aberystwyth. Unfortunately the trench was filled in immediately, and no examination of the masonry or accurate survey was possible. Both workmen were agreed, however, that the wall was between five and six feet thick, and, as fragments of mortar recovered from the trench were similar to that used in the adjacent castle walls, it is almost beyond doubt that the uncovered masonry formed part of the medieval town wall. It was aligned radially from the southern tower of the outer curtain of the castle, crossing the junction of Sea View Place and South Road, and cutting the north gable of No. 1 South Marine Terrace approximately sixty feet from its north-west corner. Most of the layout of the town wall is clear from the street plan, but one uncertain point was the whereabouts of its junction with the south side of the castle. The uncovered section must have turned east and followed the line of South Road, but from the analagous Edwardian towns in North Wales it could be conjectured that it also continued further south, projecting into the sea, and possibly echoed by the modern low boulder groin in the present harbour. Here it would have given protec- tion to a quay set against the south curtain of the town wall. As there appears to be no record of any thirteenth century river deviation such as that carried out at Rhuddlan, it is reasonable to assume that the present meandering course of the Rheidol is the original one. Although there may have been some facilities for beaching small boats north of the castle, the present harbour is the most likely site for the medieval quay. Any artificial channels or deviations are likely to have related to the mill, but such works may have been designed with the dual purpose of rendering the whole area north-east of the town wet and difficult to negotiate. Aberystwyth. 1866 Plan of British En- campments and the mines between the Rheidol & Dovey 1834 Plan of Aberystwyth Plan of Cardigan THE ABERYSTWYTH TOWN WALLS 6f x 9 A Short Account of the 8 1 British Encampments 221 x 261 89 211 X 251 106 lying between Rheidol & Llyfnant D. B. HAGUE.