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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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