Cardiganshire 
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"CARDIGAN, a sea-port, borough, market town, and parish, in the lower division of the hundred of TROEDYRAUR, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 232 miles (W. by N.) from London, containing 2795 inhabitants. This place, called by the Welsh Aberteivy, from its situation near the mouth of the river Teivy, was probably selected, at a very early period, as an eligible site both for habitation and for commerce, its maritime situation affording a facility of communication with distant parts of the kingdom. Little, however, is known either of its original foundation or of its primitive inhabitants; nor are there either traditionary or authentic records of its history, prior to the conquest of this part of the country by the Normans, who erected a fortress at this place, to defend the passage of the river, and to secure themselves in the possession of the territories which they successively wrested from the native proprietors...." [From Samuel Lewis's A Topographical Dictionary of Wales 1833]
Parish based
sketch map
of the
hundred
Beynon, Daniel Islwyn. Eseia Williams : Aberteifi . Descriptor: Union of Welsh Independents Biography. Named Person: Williams, Eseia, 1889- Gwasg Ty ar y Graig, 1973Bayliss, M.J. The Makeigs in Cardigan; The Parkypratt Family . Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, Vol VII, No 2, 1973.
Baylis, M.J. A Portrait of Thomas Makeig IV [1772-1838] of Little Scotland and Park Y Pratt. Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society VolV/2, 1965.
Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;
Held at the NLW ;
Held at Ceredigion Archives;
Monumental inscriptions for St Mary's Church, Cardigan and Cardigan, Penparcau available on microfiche from Dyfed FHS.
The Cardigan town 1851 census index has been published by Dyfed FHS
Cardigan Town & Adjoining Areas.The Free Index Searchable Database on the Cenquest site contains the whole of the 1871 and 1891 Pembrokeshire census, together with some images and work in progress for other years.The records for Cardigan Town and adjoining areas were included in the Pembrokeshire returns. Full details of places can be seen on site under FAQ.
St Mary's Church - photograph on Dyfed FHS
CARDIGAN, St. Mary 1855-1857 - on the Church plans online siteSome church and chapel data from The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 1, South Wales. Ed. by I.G Jones, & D. Williams. UWP, Cardiff, 1976. The names are those of the informants. The data comes from a section 'Cardigan Borough. St Mary Parish'
Parish entry from The Welsh Church Year Book, 1929 (Cd by Archive CD Books).
Peregrine, David John Morien. A Brief Historical and General Survey of St. Mary's Parish Church, Cardigan. [With plates.] [The Author:] Cardigan, 1954. 8o. [BM 7823.f.3]
Pritchard, Emily M. Cardigan Priory in the Olden Days ... Illustrated. London, 1904.
Bowen, E.G. The Teifi Valley as a Religious Frontier. Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, Vol VII, No 1, 1972.
See Notes on Church/Chapel Records page
Parish Register;
Baptisms 1654-1959. Marriages 1653-1971 [Banns 1823-75]. Burials 1654-1911 NLW/Cer.RO
Typescript copies of PR CMB 1669-97, 1700 NLW
Bishops Transcripts;
1675-6, 1678-83, 1685-6, 1688, 1701, 1799-1801, 1803, 1806-10, 1812-75 NLW
Nonconformist Chapels; see Chapels database
Cardigan town - on Gerwyn Williams' site
Cardigan - on Wikipedia
Cardigan - on BBC Wales
Places, villages, farms etc within Cardigan parish as shown on the parish map on the CD of Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. (Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R.). (Extracted by Howard Thomas)
Description of the parish of Cardigan from A Topographical Dictionary of Wales (1833) by Samuel Lewis.
Description of Cardigan, Isle of, from Samuel Lewis's A Topographical Dictionary of Wales 1833
"CARDIGAN (ISLE OF), an extra-parochial district, in the hundred of TROEDYRAUR, county of CARDIGAN, SOUTH WALES, 4 1/2 miles (N.) from Cardigan. This is a small island, at the eastern side of the mouth of the river Teivy, and only separated from the main land by a narrow channel: it comprises about forty acres, and yields good pasturage for cattle and sheep, chiefly for the market at Cardigan."Anon. Cardigan --- town and liberties. Bye-Gones, 1871-3
Cardigan and the Lower Teifi Valley in Old Photographs. Dyfed C.C. Gloucester, 1989. Re-published in 2000 by Budding Books. ISBN 1-84015-157-9. Here is an index and review by Mary Jane Stephenson
Kramer, Zia. Cardigan and the River Teifi. Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, Vol VII, No 1, 1972.
Mathias, Idris. Last of the Mwldan. Gomer, Llandysul. (1 85902 428 9).Gomer catalogue 2002;- "Mwldan lies on the lower side of Cardigan town. Once it was the home of sea captains, sailors, fishermen, foundrymen, poachers, preachers and sailmakers. It was the life and soul of Cardigan, those many years ago. " So begins this remarkable and moving memoir by Idris Mathias, one who calls himself the last of the Mwldan because he and his family were among the very last to leave their homes in Foundry Court in the slum clearance of 1937.
Peregrine, DJM. Cardigan's Ancient Borough. Ceredigion, Vol II
Price, M R C. The Whitland and Cardigan Railway. Oakwood, 1975
Sanders, IJ. The Boroughs of Aberystwyth and Cardigan in the early fourteenth century. B. Board. Celtic Stud, Vol XV
Pigot & Co. South Wales Directory for 1830. Here are some Extracts relating to CardiganPigot & Co. South Wales Directory for 1844. Here are some Extracts relating to Cardigan with the village of St Dogmells and Neighbourhoods
Griffiths, Ralph.A. The Making of Medieval Cardigan. Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, Vol XI, No 2, 1990Harris, Silas M. Our Lady of Cardigan. Llawlyfr Cym. Cered. Llundain, Vol VIII (1952/3)
Lewis, W. J. Gateway to Wales : a History of Cardigan . Carmarthen, 1990. Includes over 120 illustrations, and street maps.
Lloyd and Turner. Cardigan. 1794
Meyrick, Sir Samuel Rush.(1783-1848) The History and Antiquities of the county of Cardigan. Collected from the few remaining documents which have escaped the ravages of time, as well as from actual observation. Longman: London ,1810. The history and antiquities of the County of Cardigan ... to which are now added a parliamentary history, list of High Sheriffs, some notes on the present county families, &c., &c. repr. Brecon: 1907. This 1907 print has now been reprinted. The section relating to the parish of Cardigan spans pages 162-176 and apart from a general history of the parish has detailed material on the Castle, Church and Priory. Also lists of names of people who subscribed to rebuilding works at the church in the first decade of the C18th. The church incumbent in 1810 was the Rev John Evans.
Also Members of Parliament for Cardiganshire and Cardigan from the bookSampson, Aylwin Arthur. Aberteifi (Cardigan). [Buildings,structures.] Welsh/English parallel text. Aberystwyth,Cymdeithas Lyfrau Ceredigion,1972
Sanders. I J. The Boroughs of Aberystwyth and Cardigan in the Early Fourteenth Century. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, 1954
Those were the days : a history of Cardigan, the locality and its people. Vol.1 & 2. Cardigan : Cardigan & Tivy-Side Advertiser, 1991/92. An online index to Vol 1 only by Gareth Hicks together with a list of contents of both.
There are also commentaries based on some of the material in the books under Cardigan on Not everyone knows this..
Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;
Held at the NLW ;
The Gathering the Jewels site has material for this parish, use the onsite search box
Records for the port of Cardigan are held at Pembrokeshire Archives.
Lewis E A. The Port book of the Port of Cardigan in Elizabethan and Stuart Times (cont.).Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society Transactions.Vol. VII, VIII & IX [corrected on cover to 'XI]
Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;
The Cambrian News group, letters can be emailed offsite for publication
Ceredigion Library have online indexes of biographies from the Cardigan & Tivyside Advertiser 1866-1980
Lloyd-Johnes, H.J. The Cardigan Boroughs Election, 1774. Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, Vol VII, No 1, 1972.
Thomas, Peter D.G. C18 Elections in the Cardigan Boroughs Constituency. Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, Vol V, No 4, 1967.
Thomas, Peter D.G. The Cardigan Boroughs Election of 1741. Ceredigion : Journal of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, Vol VI, No 1, 1968.
"The legislation of Henry VIII creating the borough constituencies of Wales was a masterpiece of vagueness......... the presumed intention that the borough groupings were to consist of all the 'ancient boroughs' of each county was rarely, if ever, fulfilled...........In Cardiganshire the ancient boroughs were Aberystwyth, Adpar, Cardigan, Lampeter, Llanddewibrefi, and Tregaron........ Evidence (from 1604) of the early composition of the Parliamentary constituency ... shows that Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Tregaron, Trefilan, Lampeter and Adpar had then comprised the constituency.......by the late 17th century Trefilan had disappeared from the list......"
Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;
Held at the NLW ;
Details of extant records on Archives Network Wales for the following;
Here is an extract from The Reports of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the state of Education in Wales. 1847
Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi : canmlwyddiant ; 1898-1998 (Cardigan Secondary School ; centenary ; 1898-1998). Aberteifi : Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi, 1998
Held at the NLW ;
-Records of Gwyl Fawr Aberteifi, 1952-90.
Aberteifi, y dref (Cardigan, the town). Cyngor Sir Dyfed, Adran Llyfrgell,Carmarthen, 1976. Social life and customs 1610-ca 1910
[Gareth Hicks: 28 Oct 2007]
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