Welsh Journals

CEREDIGION CYLCHGRAWN CYMDEITHAS HYNAFIAETHWYR CEREDIGION JOURNAL OF THE CEREDIGION ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY CYFROL (VOLUME) IX 1982 RHIFYN (NUMBER) 2 THE MARITIME HERITAGE OF SOME SOUTHERN CEREDIGION VILLAGES In this paper it is my intention to look in some detail at the maritime history of that stretch of coast that extends from the mouth of the Teifi in the south to Cwmtudu in the north. We shall look briefly at the development of the port of Cardigan and in somewhat greater detail at four coastal villages that have received scant attention from maritime historians-Aber-porth, Tresaith, Llangrannog and Cwmtudu, together with the virtually uninhabited creeks at Mwnt and Penbryn. The Southern Ceredigion coast is an area of high cliffs, deeply entrenched river valleys and small hamlets nestling against the edge of the land. Everywhere along this coast, there is evidence of intense commercial activity in the past-disused limekilns abound and lengths of chain, metal rings and capstans are found in impossible places while at Cardigan and at Llangrannog, old warehouses, now put to new usages may still be recognised near the water's edge. Place names such as Ropeyard Hill and the Netpool, Traeth-y-Llongau and Pen yr odyn indicate the importance of the sea in ordering the life of the people of Southern Ceredigion in the past. The area has a very long tradition of maritime activity, for in-shore and estuarine fishing, the transporting of both goods and people by sea as well as a deeply entrenched seafaring tradition have always been of great importance in the history of this relatively isolated corner of Wales. Indeed the isolation of the region in the past may provide the key to the interpre- tation of the personality and character of this part of Wales, for trans- port overland was always difficult and the coastal communities of Southern Ceredigion were largely isolated from the mainstream of life and from an industrial and urban market. There are three distinct, although overlapping periods in the history of Southern Ceredigion