Aberteifi / Introduction

An introduction to Aberteifi by Greg Stevenson

Aberteifi, or Cardigan, doesn’t need any justification as a Welsh town… but in case anyone was asking, this was the site of the first National Eisteddfod, back in the twelfth century.

As my local town I feel an affiliation with this place anyway – it’s a great town with a wonderful community, but Cardigan also has some fascinating architecture.

But although this town looks clearly Victorian, it has much earlier roots. Like the county of Cardiganshire, however, there aren’t many buildings that have survived from before, say, 1750.

What we do have is a fantastic collection of buildings that reflect Cardigan’s heyday as a port in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Before decent roads were available, ports like this were essential – for exporting local farm produce, salt herrings, and Cilgerran slate to Ireland and the rest of the British Isles.

Cardigan seems like such a sleepy place today but it really was a big industrial town two hundred years ago – at the time this port was larger than the port of Bristol. Over a thousand men were working on the three hundred ships registered here.

The replacement of traditional sailing ships with steam ships, and the arrival of the railway in 1885, as well as this silting up of the river, all contributed to Cardigan’s decline as a seaport.

But there were other industries here as well – the first iron foundry was opened in 1836 and the Cardigan Brick company was successul in the late nineteenth century.

Cardigan was run-down only fifteen years ago, with about 25% of the shops empty. Now, with original type windows and shop-fronts restored, and bright colours, it has become a pleasant place to shop again.