1.
Welsh mythology
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Welsh mythology consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. Like most predominately oral societies found in the prehistoric Britain, Welsh mythology and this oral record has been lost or altered as result of outside contact and invasion over the years. The only character to appear in every branch is Pryderi fab Pwyll, the king of Dyfed, who is born in the first Branch, is killed in the fourth, and is probably a reflex of the Celtic god Maponos. The only other recurring characters are Pryderis mother Rhiannon, associated with the peaceful British prince Manawydan and he manages to win her hand at the expense of Gwawl, to whom she is betrothed, and she bears him a son, but the child disappears soon after his birth. Rhiannon is accused of killing him and forced to carry guests on her back as punishment. The child has been taken by a monster, and is rescued by Teyrnon and his wife and they return him to his real parents, Rhiannon is released from her punishment, and the boy is renamed Pryderi. In the second branch, Branwen, sister of Brân the Blessed, king of Britain, is given in marriage to Matholwch, Matholwch and Branwen have a son, Gwern, but Matholwch proceeds to mistreat Branwen, beating her and making her a drudge. Branwen trains a starling to take a message to Bran, who goes to war against Matholwch and his army crosses the Irish Sea in ships, but Brân is so huge he wades across. The Irish offer to make peace, and build a big enough to entertain Bran, but inside they hang a hundred bags, telling Efnysien they contain flour. Efnysien kills the warriors by squeezing the bags, later, at the feast, Efnysien throws Gwern on the fire and fighting breaks out. Seeing that the Irish are using the cauldron to revive their dead, Efnysien hides among the corpses and destroys the cauldron, only seven men, all Britons, survive the battle, including Pryderi, Manawyddan and Bran, who is mortally wounded by a poisoned spear. Brân asks his companions to cut off his head and take it back to Britain, Branwen dies of grief on returning home. Five pregnant women survive to repopulate Ireland, Pryderi and Manawydan return to Dyfed, where Pryderi marries Cigfa and Manawydan marries Rhiannon. However, a mist descends on the land, leaving it empty, eventually they return to Dyfed and become hunters again. While hunting, a white boar leads them to a mysterious castle, Pryderi, against Manawydans advice, goes inside, but does not return. Rhiannon goes to investigate and finds him clinging to a bowl, the same fate befalls her, and the castle disappears. Manawydan and Cigfa return to England as shoemakers, but once again the locals drive them out and they sow three fields of wheat, but the first field is destroyed before it can be harvested. The next night the field is destroyed
2.
Bardsey Island
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Bardsey Island, known as the legendary Island of 20,000 Saints, lies 1.9 miles off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The Welsh name means The Island in the Currents, although its English name refers to the Island of the Bards, or possibly the island of the Viking chieftain, Bardsey is 0.6 miles wide,1.0 mile long and 179 hectares in area. The north east rises steeply from the sea to a height of 548 feet at Mynydd Enlli, to the south the island narrows to an isthmus, connecting to a peninsula on which the lighthouse stands. Since 1974 it has included in the community of Aberdaron. It is the fourth largest offshore island in Wales, the island has been an important religious site since Saint Cadfan built a monastery in 516. In medieval times it was a centre of pilgrimage and, by 1212. The monastery was dissolved and its buildings demolished by Henry VIII in 1537, Bardsey Island is now as famous for its wildlife and rugged scenery. A bird observatory was established in 1953, largely due to the position on important migration routes. It is of European importance, cited as a place for Manx shearwaters and choughs, its rare plants. It is one of the best places in Gwynedd to see seals. It has inspired award-winning literature, and attracted internationally renowned singers, like the western and northern parts of nearby Llŷn the island is formed from rocks of the late Precambrian Gwna Group, itself a part of the Monian Supergroup. Blocks of sheared granite within this melange are visible in the coastal cliffs of the island. Elsewhere clasts of quartzite, limestone, sandstone, mudstone, jasper, the deposit is interpreted as an olistostrome, a giant underwater landslide possibly triggered by an earthquake some time after 614 million years ago. A dolerite dyke of Ordovician age intrudes the melange at Trwyn y Gorlech in the north whilst an olivine dolerite dyke of Tertiary age is seen at Cafn Enlli in the southeast, further dykes occur in the cliffs at Ogof y Gaseg and at Ogof Hir. A thin spread of glacial till stretches across the centre of the island, there is a small patch of blown sand at Porth Solfach on the west coast and a landslip at Briw Cerrig at the foot of the cliffs on the east coast. The island was inhabited in Neolithic times, and traces of hut circles remain, during the 5th century, the island became a refuge for persecuted Christians, and a small monastery existed. Around 516, Saint Einion, king of Llyn, invited the Breton Saint Cadfan to move to the island from his first residence in Tywyn, under Cadfans guidance, St Marys Abbey was built. For centuries, the island was important as the place of burial for all the bravest and best in the land
3.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
4.
Atlantis
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In the story, Athens repels the Atlantean attack unlike any other nation of the known world, supposedly giving testament to the superiority of Platos concept of a state. At the end of the story, Atlantis eventually falls out of favor with the gods, despite its minor importance in Platos work, the Atlantis story has had a considerable impact on literature. The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacons New Atlantis. On the other hand, 19th-century amateur scholars misinterpreted Platos account as historical tradition, most notably in Ignatius L. Donnellys Atlantis, The Antediluvian World. As a consequence, Atlantis has become a byword for any and all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations and continues to inspire contemporary fiction, while present-day philologists and historians accept the storys fictional character, there is still debate on what served as its inspiration. Platos dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written in 360 BC, contain the earliest references to Atlantis, for unknown reasons, Plato never completed Critias. Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent. The four people appearing in those two dialogues are the politicians Critias and Hermocrates as well as the philosophers Socrates and Timaeus of Locri, in his works Plato makes extensive use of the Socratic method in order to discuss contrary positions within the context of a supposition. The Timaeus begins with an introduction, followed by an account of the creations and structure of the universe and ancient civilizations. In the introduction, Socrates muses about the society, described in Platos Republic. Critias mentions a historical tale that would make the perfect example. In his account, ancient Athens seems to represent the perfect society and Atlantis its opponent, representing the very antithesis of the perfect traits described in the Republic. According to Critias, the Hellenic gods of old divided the land so that each god might have their own lot, Poseidon was appropriately, and to his liking, bequeathed the island of Atlantis. The island was larger than Ancient Libya and Asia Minor combined, fifty stadia from the coast was a mountain that was low on all sides. Broke it off all round about, the central island itself was five stades in diameter. In Platos myth, Poseidon fell in love with Cleito, the daughter of Evenor and Leucippe, who bore him five pairs of male twins. The eldest of these, Atlas, was made king of the entire island and the ocean, and was given the mountain of his birth. Atlass twin Gadeirus, or Eumelus in Greek, was given the extremity of the island towards the pillars of Hercules
5.
Cardigan, Ceredigion
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Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Wales. It lies on a reach of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the county of Cardiganshire and is the second largest town in present-day Ceredigion. The settlement at Cardigan was developed around the Norman castle built in the late 11th or early 12th century, the castle was the location of the first National Eisteddfod in 1176, it underwent restoration in 2014. The town became an important port in the 18th century, the population in 2001 was 4,203, reducing slightly to 4,184 at the 2011 Census. Modern Cardigan is a compact and busy town with most facilities for retail, education, health, worship, Cardigan is an anglicisation of the Welsh Ceredigion, the surrounding territory its Norman castle once controlled. Ceredig was supposedly one of the sons of Cunedda Wledig, who Welsh legend records invaded from the north to recover lands in Roman Britain from invading Irishmen in late antiquity. The nearest known Roman forts were at Loventium and Bremia at the mines near Llanio above the River Teifi on the Sarn Helen road. The present town grew up near the forts established to control the access of the Teifi. A castle was built by Roger de Montgomery in 1093 after a Norman army conquered Ceredigion, the town itself held out until 1164. Rhys ap Gruffydd fortified the town and was credited with the establishment of the castle near the bridge over the Teifi, in 1176, he instituted the first eisteddfod. Contestants came from all over the British Isles to compete for chairs in music, lord Rhys grandson Maelgwn razed the castle and sacked the town. In 1199 the town received its first charter and became an important trade centre, in 1227 a weekly market was established which continues to this day. Welsh rule over Cardigan continued, for periods under royal lordship. The town wall was built in the 1240s and the castle was rebuilt, St Marys Church was established as a Benedictine Priory and parish church in mediaeval times and survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The castle ceased being the centre of the county with the Act of Union in 1536. Until the 16th century, Cardigan had been a small, walled town with river traffic. A small Benedictine priory operated until the Reformation and the important abbey of St Dogmaels was also nearby
6.
17th century
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The 17th century was the century that lasted from January 1,1601, to December 31,1700, in the Gregorian calendar. The greatest military conflicts were the Thirty Years War, the Great Turkish War, in the Islamic world, the Ottoman, Safavid Persian and Mughal empires grew in strength. In Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo period at the beginning of the century, European politics were dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. With domestic peace assured, Louis XIV caused the borders of France to be expanded and it was during this century that English monarch became a symbolic figurehead and Parliament was the dominant force in government – a contrast to most of Europe, in particular France. It was also a period of development of culture in general,1600, On February 17 Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake by the Inquisition. 1600, Michael the Brave unifies the three Romanian countries, Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania after the Battle of Șelimbăr from 1599. 1601, Battle of Kinsale, England defeats Irish and Spanish forces at the town of Kinsale, driving the Gaelic aristocracy out of Ireland and destroying the Gaelic clan system. 1601, Michael the Brave, voivode of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, is assassinated by the order of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at Câmpia Turzii, 1601–1603, The Russian famine of 1601–1603 kills perhaps one-third of Russia. 1601, Panembahan Senopati, first king of Mataram, dies and passes rule to his son Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak 1601,1602, Matteo Ricci produces the Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, a world map that will be used throughout East Asia for centuries. 1602, The Portuguese send an expeditionary force from Malacca which succeeded in reimposing a degree of Portuguese control. 1602, The Dutch East India Company is established by merging competing Dutch trading companies and its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age. 1602, Two emissaries from the Aceh Sultanate visit the Dutch Republic,1603, Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England. 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu takes the title of Shogun, establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate and this begins the Edo period, which will last until 1869. 1603–1623, After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands the Persian Empire by capturing territory from the Ottomans,1603, First permanent Dutch trading post is established in Banten, West Java. First successful VOC privateering raid on a Portuguese ship,1604, A second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reaches Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda. 1605, Gunpowder Plot failed in England,1605, The fortresses of Veszprém and Visegrad are retaken by the Ottomans. 1605, February, The VOC in alliance with Hitu prepare to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon,1605, Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak of Mataram establishes control over Demak, former center of the Demak Sultanate. 1606, Treaty of Vienna ends anti-Habsburg uprising in Royal Hungary,1606, Assassination of Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania
7.
Levee
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A levee, dike, dyke, embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlines, the word levee, from the French word levée, is used in American English. It originated in New Orleans a few years after the founding in 1718 and was later adopted by English speakers. The name derives from the trait of the ridges being raised higher than both the channel and the surrounding floodplains. The modern word dike or dyke most likely derives from the Dutch word dijk, the 126 kilometres long Westfriese Omringdijk was completed by 1250, and was formed by connecting existing older dikes. The Roman chronicler Tacitus even mentions that the rebellious Batavi pierced dikes to flood their land, the word dijk originally indicated both the trench and the bank. It is closely related to the English verb to dig, in Anglo-Saxon, the word dic already existed and was pronounced as dick in northern England and as ditch in the south. Similar to Dutch, the English origins of the lie in digging a trench. This practice has meant that the name may be given to either the excavation or the bank, thus Offas Dyke is a combined structure and Car Dyke is a trench though it once had raised banks as well. In the midlands and north of England, and in the United States, a dike is what a ditch is in the south, a property boundary marker or small drainage channel. Where it carries a stream, it may be called a dike as in Rippingale Running Dike. The Weir Dike is a dike in Bourne North Fen, near Twenty and alongside the River Glen. In the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, a dyke may be a ditch or a narrow artificial channel off a river or broad for access or mooring, some longer dykes being named. In parts of Britain, particularly Scotland, a dyke may be a field wall, Levees can be mainly found along the sea, where dunes are not strong enough, along rivers for protection against high-floods, along lakes or along polders. Furthermore, levees have been built for the purpose of empoldering, the latter can be a controlled inundation by the military or a measure to prevent inundation of a larger area surrounded by levees. Levees have also built as field boundaries and as military defences. More on this type of levee can be found in the article on dry-stone walls, Levees can be permanent earthworks or emergency constructions built hastily in a flood emergency. When such a bank is added on top of an existing levee it is known as a cradge
8.
Saint Patrick
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Saint Patrick was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the Apostle of Ireland, he is the patron saint of Ireland, along with saints Brigit of Kildare. He is also venerated in the Anglican Communion, the Old Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox Church as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland. The dates of Patricks life cannot be fixed with certainty but there is agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the 5th century. He has been generally so regarded ever since, despite evidence of some earlier Christian presence in Ireland, after becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked, by the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patricks Day is observed on 17 March, the date of his death. It is celebrated inside and outside Ireland as a religious and cultural holiday, in the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation, it is also a celebration of Ireland itself. Two Latin works survive which are accepted as having been written by St. Patrick. These are the Declaration and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus, the Declaration is the more biographical of the two. In it, Patrick gives an account of his life. Most available details of his life are from subsequent hagiographies and annals, the only name that Patrick uses for himself in his own writings is Pātricius, which gives Old Irish Pátraic and Modern Irish Pádraig, English Patrick and Welsh Padrig. Hagiography records other names he is said to have borne, Magonus appears in the ninth century Historia Brittonum as Maun, descending from British *Magunos, meaning servant-lad. Succetus, which appears in Muirchú moccu Machthenis seventh century Life as Sochet, is identified by Mac Neill as a word of British origin meaning swineherd. The dates of Patricks life are uncertain, there are conflicting regarding the year of his death. His own writings provide no evidence for any dating more precise than the 5th century generally, the Letter to Coroticus implies that the Franks were still pagans at the time of writing, their conversion to Christianity is dated to the period 496–508. The Irish annals for the century date Patricks arrival in Ireland at 432. The date 432 was probably chosen to minimise the contribution of Palladius, who was known to have sent to Ireland in 431
9.
Sluice
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A sluice is a water channel controlled at its head by a gate. A mill race, leet, flume, penstock or lade is a sluice channelling water toward a water mill, the terms sluice, sluice gate, knife gate, and slide gate are used interchangeably in the water and wastewater control industry. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway, Sluice gates commonly control water levels and flow rates in rivers and canals. They are also used in treatment plants and to recover minerals in mining operations. Sluice gate refers to a gate allowing water to flow under it. When a sluice is lowered, water may spill over the top, usually, a mechanism drives the sluice up or down. This may be a simple, hand-operated, chain pulled/lowered, worm drive or rack-and-pinion drive, flap sluice gate A fully automatic type, controlled by the pressure head across it, operation is similar to that of a check valve. It is a gate hinged at the top, when pressure is from one side, the gate is kept closed, a pressure from the other side opens the sluice when a threshold pressure is surpassed. Vertical rising sluice gate A plate sliding in the vertical direction, radial sluice gate A structure, where a small part of a cylindrical surface serves as the gate, supported by radial constructions going through the cylinders radius. On occasion, a counterweight is provided, rising sector sluice gate Also a part of a cylindrical surface, which rests at the bottom of the channel and rises by rotating around its centre. Needle sluice A sluice formed by a number of thin needles held against a solid frame through water pressure as in a needle dam. The gates of a Guillotine lock work in a way similar to a sluice gate, in the mountains of the United States, sluices transported logs from steep hillsides to downslope sawmill ponds or yarding areas. Nineteenth-century logging was traditionally a winter activity for men who spent summers working on farms, where there were freezing nights, water might be applied to logging sluices every night so a fresh coating of slippery ice would reduce friction of logs placed in the sluice the following morning. Sluice boxes are used in the recovery of black sands, gold. They may be small-scale, as used in prospecting, or much larger, as in commercial operations, typical sluices have transverse riffles over a carpet, which trap the heavy minerals, gemstones, and other valuable minerals. Cast Iron Cast iron has been popular when constructing sluice gates for years and this material is great at keeping the strength needed when dealing with powerful water levels. Stainless Steel Stainless steel in most cases is lighter than the older cast iron material, fibre-reinforced plastic Rather recently a new technologies such as fibre-reinforced plastic are being used to build sluices. This modern technology has many of the attributes as the older ways while bringing in new attributes such as corrosion resistance, in the Somerset Levels, sluice gates are known as clyse or clyce
10.
River Conwy
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The River Conwy is a river in north Wales. From its source to its discharge in Conwy Bay it is a little over 27 miles long, Conwy was formerly Anglicised as Conway. The name Conwy derives from the old Welsh words cyn and gwy, from Betws-y-coed the river continues to flow north through Llanrwst, Trefriw and Dolgarrog before reaching Conwy Bay at Conwy. During spring tides the river is tidal as far as Tan-lan, the Conwy is bounded to the east by the rolling ancient mudstone hills of the Silurian period, the Migneint Moors. These acid rocks are covered in thin, often acid soils and for large parts of the upland areas the cover is of moor-grass — Mollinia spp. Excellent examples of torrential river geomorphology can be seen at Conwy Falls, the land to the East is highly forested with planted non-native conifers. On the western side of the valley are a number of lakes, the rocks are also rich in minerals and there are many abandoned mine sites where copper, lead and silver have been mined since Roman times. The river valley down-stream of Betws-y-Coed is relatively wide and fertile, in wintertime these pastures are used to nurture the sheep brought down from the mountains to avoid the worst of the winter weather. Aber Afon Conwy is a site of special interest and it has acquired such a status due to its marine and terrestrial biology. The tidal reach of the site reaches around 16 kilometres and its upstream boundary is south of Tal y Cafn, and the whole site encompasses Conwy Bay. The shoreline is supported by rock, in addition to boulder clay cliff, sand dune, salt marsh. The scattered communities along the Conwy valley have ancient traditions with archeological evidence of habitation back to the Stone Age, the Romans occupied this area up to 400 AD and there has been continuous habitation since that time. The valley is home to two of the oldest churches in Wales, those at Llanrhychwyn and Llangelynin, which date back to the 11th and 12th centuries. At the mouth of the Conwy as it discharges into Conwy Bay is the town of Conwy with its World Heritage Site castle — Conwy Castle and two famous bridges. One of the earliest road suspension bridges by Thomas Telford now carries a footpath whilst Robert Stephensons tubular iron bridge still carries the main Holyhead to London railway line. A third bridge now takes road traffic, and more still the A55 now runs in a tunnel under the estuary. The River Conwy is routinely monitored for quality by the Environment Agency, the river quality tends to be acidic in the headwaters with very low concentrations of the common anions and cations. Whilst conductivity rises as the river flows towards the sea, the overall organic quality remains very good despite some slight increases in ammonia due to agricultural inputs
11.
Ceredigion
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Ceredigion is a county in Mid Wales. In the Middle Ages, it was a minor kingdom also known for a time as Seisyllwg, following its Norman conquest, the name was anglicised to Cardigan and then Cardiganshire and it began to be administered as a county in 1282. The county had a population of 75,900 at the 2011 UK census and its largest town, Aberystwyth, is one of the two administrative centres, the other being Aberaeron. Aberystwyth houses Aberystwyth University, Bronglais Hospital and the National Library of Wales, the inland town of Lampeter houses part of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Ceredigion is considered to be a centre of Welsh culture and more than half the population speaks Welsh, the county is mainly rural with over 50 miles of coastline and a mountainous hinterland. The numerous sandy beaches, together with the long-distance Ceredigion Coast Path provide excellent views of Cardigan Bay, the economy became highly dependent on dairy farming and the rearing of livestock for the English market. Ceredigion has been inhabited since prehistoric times,170 hill forts and enclosures have been identified across the county, around the time of the Roman invasion of Britain, the area was between the realms of the Demetae and Ordovices. The Sarn Helen road ran through the territory, with forts at Bremia, following the Roman withdrawal, Irish raids and invasions were repulsed, supposedly by the forces under a northerner named Cunedda. The 9th-century History of the Britons attributed to Nennius records that Cuneddas son Ceredig settled the area around the Teifi in the 5th century. The territory supposedly remained a kingdom under his dynasty until its extinction upon the drowning of Gwgon ap Meurig c. 871, after which it was administered by Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd before passing to his son Cadell. Many pilgrims passed through Cardiganshire on their way to St Davids, some came by sea and made use of the churches at Mwnt and Penbryn, while others came by land seeking hospitality at such places as Strata Florida Abbey. Both the abbey and Llanbadarn Fawr were important monastic sites of scholarship, place names including ysbyty denote their association with pilgrims. In 1282, Edward I of England conquered the principality of Wales, one of thirteen traditional counties in Wales, Cardiganshire was also a vice-county. Cardiganshire was split into the five hundreds of Genaur-Glyn, Ilar, Moyddyn, Penarth, every community built its own chapel or meeting house, and Cardiganshire became one of the centres of Methodism in Wales with the Aeron Valley being at the centre of the revival. Cardigan was one of the ports of southern Wales, but its harbour silted in the mid-19th century. In the uplands, wheeled vehicles were rare in the 18th century, on the coast, trade in herrings and corn took place across the Irish Sea. In the 19th century, many of the rural poor emigrated to the New World from Cardigan, Aberystwyth became the main centre for the export of lead and Aberaeron and Newquay did brisk coastal trade. The building of the railway from Shrewsbury in the 1860s encouraged visitors and this area of the county of Dyfed became a district of Wales under the name Ceredigion in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and since 1996, has formed the county of Ceredigion
12.
River Teifi
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It flows into the sea below the town of Cardigan. The Teifi has its source in Llyn Teifi, one of several known collectively as the Teifi Pools. These are situated towards the north of the county of Ceredigion and this wide area of Mid-Wales, with a very sparse population, is part of what is sometimes called the desert of Wales. The river flows past Strata Florida Abbey and then through Pontrhydfendigaid before reaching the river valley floor. Here it passes one of the great raised mires of Britain, Gors Goch Glan Teifi. From here the river descends through pastures and bogs forming meanders on farmland below, several small tributaries join from the valley with gorges, rocky and tree-lined sections also in the area. The river becomes tidal below Llechryd and descends into Cardigan through the steep-sided Cilgerran Gorge, on the lower parts of the river the wildlife is rich. There is a large variety ranging from crowfoot river plants to Atlantic salmon as well as otters, wetland birds, there have also been sightings of bottle-nosed dolphins where the river opens into the estuary and flows into Cardigan Bay. Afon Tywi at 120 km and Afon Teifi at 117 km are the longest rivers wholly in Wales, the river is susceptible to flooding and there were some heavy floods in 2007 and 2008. If the swollen river is backed up by a tide, flooding can occur in Cardigan. The most recent flooding was in December 2015, the Teifi and its tributaries are underlain by ancient Ordovician and Silurian mudstones which have been extensively glaciated during the ice ages. The resultant landform is one of rolling hills supporting a range of agriculture in which dairy. Ceredigion had the reputation of supplying London with its milk in the 19th century, the landscapes of the Teifi valley are very attractive and the Teifi is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful rivers in Wales. Teifi Pools, the source of the Teifi, are a series of small lakes left by past glacial activity, the lakes are upland and acid in nature. Some have been enlarged by damming and now provide a source of drinking water, the very extensive raised mire above Tregaron acts as a huge sponge at the head of the river and evens out extremes in flow. Rapids and waterfalls are uncommon but the examples at Henllan and, a dramatic painting of the falls was made by Frank Miles and is now at Nottingham City Museum. Miless father inherited Cardigan Priory from his father, Philip John Miles, the gorge between Llechryd and Cilgerran has a special brooding quality. Few visitors stray into the gorge and the river winds its way almost silently between the densely wooded sides with their distinctive under-storey flora of sedges, Afon Teifi is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in Ceredigion, Wales
Sarn Gynfelyn and the submerged forest at Borth
