Aberystwyth

“ It is the most popular watering-place on the west coast of Wales, and possesses a pier, and a fine sea-front which stretches from Constitution Hill at the north end of the Marine Terrace to the mouth of the harbour. The town is of modern appearance, and contains many public buildings, of which the most remarkable is the imposing but fantastic structure of the University College of Wales near the Castle Hill. Much of the finest scenery in mid-Wales lies within easy reach of Aberystwyth. ”

“ The traveller who has gone to Aberystwyth by the Cambrian Line has, most probably, noticed on the left hand side, shortly after he has left Borth, a small church, with a churchyard that enters a wood to the west of the church, the grave stones being seen among the trees. There is in connection with this church a legend much like those already given. ”

“ The Dyfi, here a mile broad, is crossed by a ferry to Borth sands, whence a road leads to Aberystwyth. The submerged “bells of Aberdovey” (since Seithennin “the drunkard” caused the formation of Cardigan Bay) are famous in a Welsh song. Aberdovey is a health and bathing resort. ”

“ The servant was quite surprised at this, as he knew that his master had gone to Aberystwyth early in the morning. When the master came home that night from Aberystwyth, the servant told him that he had seen him in the afternoon in the field. [164]
“Well,” said Evans in reply, “if you saw me you only saw my spirit, for I have been away all day; now to see the spirit of a living man is not a bad sign.” ”

“ I fancied that one of the Englishmen to whom it might have occurred was he whom I met in Wales at Aberystwyth, where we spoke together a moment in the shadow of the co-educational University there, and who seemed at least of a different mind concerning the Welsh. “These Welsh farmers,” he said, “send their sons and daughters to college as if it were quite the natural thing to do. But just imagine a Dorsetshire peasant sending his boy to a University!” ”

“ The modern unity of the Welsh people—seen occasionally in a function of the University, or at a national Eisteddvod, or in a conference of the County Councils—has become a fact in spite of many difficulties.
One difficulty has been the absence of a capital. The office of the University and the National Museum are at Cardiff, in p. 124the extreme south; the National Library is at Aberystwyth, on the western sea. The thriving industries, the densely populated districts, and the frequent and active railways, are in the extreme south or in the extreme north ”

“ After going back to America to keep a music school at Danville (1871–3) he became professor of music at the newly founded University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. The appointment gave a great impetus to musical studies in Wales. He proceeded Mus.Doc. at Cambridge in 1878, his exercise, a cantata, 'Jerusalem,' being performed by a Welsh choir from Aberdare. When the Aberystwyth professorship was discontinued in 1879 (Davies and Jones, University of Wales, pp. 121, 133) , Parry kept a private school of music, first at Aberystwyth and then (1881-8) at Swansea. ”

“ He convinced himself that the land laws of Wales were already those of Anglo-Norman feudalism. He subjected the cantreds of Rhos and Englefield to the Cheshire county court, and breathed a new life into the decayed shire organisation of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire. Flint and Rhuddlan dominated the two former, Aberystwyth and Carmarthen the latter. Round the king's castles grew up petty boroughs of English traders, who would, it was believed, teach the Welsh to love commerce and peaceful ways. ”

“ He made his position in Gwynedd secure, overran Powys, and carried his victorious army as far south as Aberystwyth. There he met the southern princes, and agreed to divide Cardigan with them. Then turning northwards he marched against Ranulf, Earl of Chester, whose castles of Deganwy, Rhuddlan, Holywell, and Mold he captured.
In the meantime John had been viewing the victorious career of his son-in-law with surprise and displeasure. A strong and united Wales was a thing which no king of England could tolerate. ”

“ An old man named Jenkin Williams, a native of Llangwyryfon, a parish in the same County, who is 89 years of age, informed me that he well remembered the custom observed in his native parish, about seven miles from Aberystwyth, many years ago; but it is rarely observed at the present day. There are many parts of the country nowadays, where the practice is unknown, but there are evident signs that the beautiful old custom is reviving in parts of Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire, and Pembrokeshire. In Glamorganshire, as I have already observed, the custom is very general. ”

“ SPIRIT OF A LIVING MAN IN A FIELD.
I heard the following story in the neighbourhood of Llanddewi, about my own grandfather, the late Mr. John Evans, of Gogoyan, who died about fifty-five years ago. (The “Hiriaid Gogoyan” were descended from Gruffydd Hir o Llanfair, great-great-grandson of Gwaethfoed) ; so saith Gwynionydd, in his book on “Enwogion Ceredigion.” But now for the story:—
Mr. Evans one day had gone to Aberystwyth, either riding or driving as this was in the days before the introduction of railways into that part, the distance was over twenty miles. ”

“ The Welsh costume survives almost solely in the picture-postal cards, though perhaps in the hilly fastnesses the women still wear the steeple-crowned hats which we associate with the notion of witches; when they come to market in Aberystwyth they wear hard, shiny black straw hats like the men’s. Amongst the throng of Saturday-night shoppers I saw none of the drunkenness that one sees so often in Scottish streets, and in English cities, and, I grieve to say, even in some New England towns. ”

“ Six years later, in 1910, the Mawddwy Railway, running from Cemmes Road to Dinas Mawddwy, which had formerly belonged to an independent Company and later closed, was re-opened under the Light Railways Act, and worked by the Cambrian, while in 1913, power was obtained to carry out yet another amalgamation, which, small in itself, considerably adds to the amenities of tourist traffic in the neighbourhood of Aberystwyth. ”

“ The lowland hundred was the property of Gwyddno, surnamed longshanks, King of Ceredigion (Cardiganshire) . This event happened in the reign of Emrys Wledig. The inhabitants who escaped from that inundation landed in Ardudwy, [322] and ascended the mountains of Snowdon, which had never been inhabited before that period.”
There is a poem on this inundation in the ancient Welsh book “Llyvr Du Caerfyrddin” (Black Book of Carmarthen) .
Near Wallog, a few miles to the North of Aberystwyth, a causeway called Sarn Cynfelyn, extends several miles into the sea. ”

“ The fact [Pg 275] that a castle in or near Aberystwyth was not built until 1109 may indicate that the conquest of Northern Cardigan was not completed till it became the portion of the De Clares. This took place in 1109, when Henry I. deposed Cadwgan, a Welsh prince whom he had made Lord of Cardigan, and gave the lordship to Gilbert de Clare, who immediately proceeded to build the above-mentioned castle, and to restore Earl Roger’s castle at Cilgerran (Dingeraint) . ”

“ An old man named Evan Morris, who lives at Goginan, near Aberystwyth, informed me that about 60 years ago, a young man in that neighbourhood was struck dumb all of a sudden, that he could not utter a word. ”

“ When a funeral takes place at Aberystwyth, in Cardiganshire, it is customary for the Town Crier to go through the streets tolling a small hand-bell, a short time before the funeral procession. This is a survival of a very ancient custom which was once very general throughout Wales, and in pre-Reformation times this corpse-bell which was known as “bangu,” was kept in all the Welsh Churches, and when a funeral was to take place, the bellman took it to the house of the deceased. ”

“ In their manners the people could not be more amiable than the English, who are as amiable as possible, but they seemed brighter and gayer. This remained their effect to the last in Aberystwyth, and when one left the Terrace where the English visitors superabounded, the Welsh had the whole place to themselves. I would not push my conjecture, but it seemed to me that there was an absence of the cloying loyalty which makes sojourn in England afflictive to the republican spirit ”

“ The Saeseneg visitors rather amused themselves with the sea and the resources of the beach and the bathing. As contrasted with the visitors at Aberystwyth, so distinctly in the earlier and later stages of love-making, I should say those at Llandudno were domestic: fathers and mothers who used the long phalanx of bathing-machines appointed to their different sexes, and their children who played in the sand. I thought the children charming, and I contributed tuppence to aid in the repair of the sand castle of two nice little boys which had fallen down ”

“ To go from one Dorset or East Devon coast town to another by rail involves an amount of thought and a consultation of time-tables that would not be required for a journey from London to Aberystwyth, and unless the traveller hits on a particularly lucky set of connexions he will find that he can walk from one town to the other in less time than by taking the train. From Lyme to Seaton by the Landslip is barely seven miles ”

“ At Tre-Taliesin we are reminded of the grave of Taliesin, the 'King of the Bards' during the sixth century; the pilgrimage to his grave, which lies about a mile to the left of the road, is a favourite one from Aberystwyth. Two miles farther on the remains of a British camp or fort crown the summit of Moel-y-Gaer, close to the road upon the right; they are remarkably well preserved, and in the neighbourhood are some Druidical circles. In this district the open country around is quite park-like in many places ”

“ Their object was to possess themselves of all the level and fertile land; and their method of conquest was the castle. Opposition to them was always fierce, but seldom united or well advised. The three original barons were soon joined by others; and ere long chains of fortresses stretched out from Shrewsbury, Chester, Hereford, Gloucester, and Cardiff. The English border was thereby studded with them; and so was the whole of South Wales from Gloucester and Hereford to Pembroke and Aberystwyth. They brought with them traders, architects, and craftsmen ”

“ Here his Worship, supported by Earl Vane, Capt. E. L. Pryse, M.P., Mr. Thomas Barnes, M.P., Capt. R. D. Pryce, the Contractors, Engineers, and many other ardent workers for or well-wishers of the undertaking, presided over a flow of oratory, the report of which occupied over five columns of the newspapers, and visions of a new Aberystwyth swam before the eyes of the guests, wonderful and beatific! ”

“ In order to break the old tribal system, and in order to anglicise the population as much as possible, the growth of towns was encouraged. These were given special privileges by Royal Charter. Cardigan, Builth, Montgomery, Welshpool, Rhuddlan, Aberystwyth, Carnarvon, Conway, Criccieth, {97} Harlech, Caerwys, Beaumaris, and Newburgh were among those which received charters from Edward I; while Edward II gave charters to Bala, Llanfyllin, Cardiff, Usk, Caerleon, Newport, Cowbridge, and Neath. ”

“ The year 1894 was a busy one for the prince of Wales, who became a member of the royal commission on the housing of the poor, opened the Tower Bridge, attended the Welsh Eisteddfod and was duly initiated, and paid two visits to Russia—one for the marriage of the grand-duchess Xenia, the other for the funeral of the tsar, his brother-in-law. In 1896 he became first chancellor of the university of Wales, and his first act after his installation at Aberystwyth was to confer an honorary degree upon the princess. ”

“ Had Owen Glyndwr at this juncture pressed forward from Oswestry, where it has been before said he was lying with a fresh army, and as numerous as the English were before they had sustained so severe a loss, he might have changed the aspect of affairs; but at this distance of time a proper judgment cannot be formed. Some historians blame him for his precipitate retreat into Wales, whither he was followed by a part of the English army, under young Henry, who made himself master of the Castle of Aberystwyth, which Owen afterwards recaptured. ”

“ Severn rose up very early, and took compass through Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. Wye rose later and took her journey through the counties of Radnorshire and Hereford, falling in with her sister near Chepstow, and went hand in hand to the ocean. Rheidol indulged in her dreams and lay so late that she was forced to take the nearest road to Aberystwyth. According to another version of this legend five sister fountains are mentioned, namely, Wye, Severn, Rheidol, Llyfnant and the Dulas. ”

“ The continuation of the line from Borth to Aberystwyth was completed for traffic, as we have just seen, in the summer of 1864, and on that auspicious day when trains began to run through from Whitchurch to the new terminus on the banks of the Rheidol the rejoicings in Aberystwyth were such as to eclipse even those who had marked earlier stages of the construction of the various railways now linked in one long chain. Indeed, the triumphal procession which made its way to the coast was bent on more than one celebration. The day was also to mark the opening of the hotel which Mr. ”