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The History of New Quay
In the early days New Quay was a fishing
and smuggling
port. Later a burgeoning shipbuilding industry developed, reaching its
peak in the middle of the nineteenth century. Towards the end of that
century shipbuilding died out and tourism gradually filled the void.
Today New Quay has little industry - just a little fishing and a
shellfish processing plant. By far the majority of residents now are
associated with Tourism and its associated services. Click on the photo for more information. |
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The Life of Dylan Thomas
Thomas is
remembered by most for his final play 'Under Milk Wood'. Started in New
Quay and partially written at Southleigh near Oxford, then finally
completed in New York minutes before its first public performance,
'Under Milk Wood' has stimulated a long-running debate as to which town
is the model for 'Llareggub'. Local Author David Thomas notes
that many of the characters (from New Quay) were written in long before
Dylan Thomas ever visited Laugharne. He has clearly established a
strong case for New Quay being the model for 'Llareggub' while the name
'Under Milk Wood' is probably taken from the farm called
'Wernllaeth' where Dylan was taken by his good friend, the Aberaeron
vet Tommy Herbert. Dylan and Caitlin's daughter Aeronwy was
named after the river Aeron which flows through the Aeron valley to
Aberaeron , and about which Dylan said was: 'the most precious place in
the world'. Click on the
photo for more information.
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The History of Llanarth
Just a short distance from New Quay,
Llanarth
is an ancient settlement, among the oldest in Ceredigion. Set
just inland from the Cardigan Bay coast, it is centred on the
crossroads formed where the A487 coast road meets the B4342 to New Quay
(or formerly to Llanina).
The age of
a community is usually best recorded by the date when its church was
established. There is record of a stone church being built in Llanarth
between 1200 and 1220 to replace an earlier wooden church.
Within St. David's Church is an even older relic; the inscribed stone
cross, sometimes known as the Cross of Girhurst or the Cross of
Girhiret - named after an Irish chieftain of the ninth century. Click
on the photo for more information.
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New Quay 100 years ago
Many photographs of New Quay and Aberaeron have
survived thanks to the work of local photographers specialising in post
cards. Some of these are Charles H. Dierks and Shirley Brooks. They had
premises at 9 George Street in New Quay and at 19 Alban Square
Aberaeron around 1910. Another local photographer was Tom Desmond of
Priory Street Cardigan.
The photo on the left shows a thatched
cottage that once stood where Adam's Garage car park is at the bottom
of Francis Street.
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What were the Llanina ruins?
There has been
much speculation as to the former use of the ruins at Llanina. They are
in a wood called 'Coed Llanina' just opposite the gates to the Llanina
Mansion and St Ina's Church. The main section of buildings surrounds
part of what is now the car park for the various walks through the
woods provided by Welsh Water which now owns the property.
The land now
owned by the water
company was once part of the extensive Llanina estate owned when the
farm was newly built in 1770 by the Jones family. Later, the estate was
to pass into the hands of Charles Longcroft and his
descendants
who lived there for more than a hundred years.
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Dating Ancient hedges in Llanarth near New Quay
The
map on the left was published in 1850. It shows the road leading to our
farm 'Motygido' - shown on the map as 'Bot-y-gido' with its perimeter
outlined in red. On the right is the A487 - Cardigan to Aberystwyth
road.
We
know the roads and hedges here are old, but just how old are they?
We
sampled the hedges at 5 locations shown in red using 'Hooper's Law'
- a method devised by Dr. Max Hooper in the 1950's for dating
hedges in the English Midlands.
We found the hedges to
be much older than we had imagined. Click
on the photo for more information.
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The Limekilns of
Ceredigion
Lime has been used for building since 7000
BC ( South Galilee, Israel). It was widely used by the Egyptians and
later by the Romans who invented various mixes including a waterproof
lime mortar for use in aqueducts by including volcanic dust in the mix.
In Ceredigion, lime was not always available and some early builders
used earth and clay between the stones. However, with the advent of a
busy coastal shipping industry in West Wales, Limestone, and culm - the
fuel needed to convert Limestone into quicklime became two of
the more important imports to the area. Click on the
photo for more information.
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The Bwthyn
The earliest Cottages or
'Bwthyn' were largely constructed of clom - a mixture of clay, horse
hair, and cow dung and roofed with thatch. Often they had just one room
and were quite basic, having earth floors, a fire on the floor and a
hole in the thatch to let the smoke escape. A 17th century traveller
described one such house as: "...a dunghill modell'd into the
shape of a cottage, whose outward surface was all to-be-negro'd in such
swairthy plaister that it appear'd not unlike a great blot of cow turd".
Click on the photo for
more information.
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Mr. Jacob's Lily
Roadside banks -
especially those
alongside ancient lanes are a natural haven for wild flowers. Here they
grow
without fear of ploughing, herbicides or other disturbance. They may be
trimmed
in the summer as rampant growth narrows the lane, but they often have
time to
set their seed ready for growth the following year. They survive in
what amounts
to a very narrow and very well protected meadow.
Most of the
flowers are relicts
of the old meadows and woodlands, but a few are more recent; relative
newcomers
remaining as clues to a way of life long gone, and to individuals and
families
long forgotten. Click on the
photo for more information.
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