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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

In 1868, the parish of Henfynyw contained the following places:

"HENFYNYW, a parish in the hundred of Lower Ilar, county Cardigan, 21 miles N.E. of Cardigan. This parish, which signifies "Old Menevia," is situated on Cardigan Bay, near the mouth of the river Aeron. It includes part of the town of Aberayron, which is reckoned one of the pleasantest watering-places in Wales, and a subport to Cardigan. Many of the inhabitants are engaged in the coasting trade and in the herring fishery. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of St. David's, value £109. The church is dedicated to St. David."

"ABERAERON, (or Aberayron), a seaport town, partly in the parish of Henfynyw, but mostly in the parish of Llandewi-Aberarth, hundred of Dar, in the county of Cardigan, South Wales, 21 miles N.E. of Cardigan, and 192 miles from London. It is very pleasantly situated on Cardigan Bay, at the extremity of the Vale of Aëron. The sides of the valley are here abrupt and well wooded. The river Aëron, which flows through the valley, separates the two parishes. It abounds in trout and salmon. The scenery of the vale is charming, and has attracted many visitors of late years. The town has grown rapidly, and the population more than doubled since 1841. There is a good harbour, which was constructed in 1807 by the Rev. A. T. Jones Gwynne, under the authority of an Act of Parliament, and has since been enlarged. There is a bar at the entrance of the harbour, which is dry at low water. The port, which is a subport of Cardigan, has about fifty vessels belonging to it, and one hundred persons are engaged in shipbuilding: Quarter sessions and petty sessions, and the county-court, are held in the town-hall, which was erected in 1835, and enlarged in 1846. Saturday is the market day, and on the 13th December there is a fair for horses and cattle. Here is a large school connected with the Church of England, which was established in 1849. The Dissenters also maintain another. The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of St. David's, value £50. The patronage is in the hands of the inhabitants. On the shore, near the town, is an ancient circular earthwork, called Castell Cadwgan, which is supposed to have been constructed in the middle of the 12th century by Cadwgan-ab-Bleddyn.

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018