Christmas is coming so its newsletter time. Its a time to remind yourself of our new year activities and to put them on your new calendars. And, if you get fed up with the Xmas tv, look no further - here are some suggestions to help research your ancestors or even the history of your house.

Being a sailor was a dangerous occupation in the 18th Century. We were reminded of this in a fascinating talk by Huw Alban Davies earlier this season. He told us of the barque Friedeburg, lost in 1887 with 6 Aberaeron men on board including the Master, his great grandfather Evan Lloyd. He went on to tell us about Samuel Plimsoll and the introduction of the Plimsoll line to prevent overloading, the main cause of maritime disasters at that time. Huw has kindly provided an article summarising his talk which you can now read in the heritage section of this site.

In a special ceremony at The Waterfront Museum in Swansea Ysgol Gynradd Aberaeron received a trophy and a financial award of £600 for their 2024 Christmas Show ‘Y Wal’ which followed the history of the harbour in Aberaeron from its building in 1807 to the recent work being undertaken by BAM. The prize was awarded by the ‘Welsh Heritage Schools Initiative’ who praised the ability of the pupils to highlight the history of the harbour as well as the process of creating a performance that included every pupil in the school. Another highlight for Hari and Moc who represented the school at the ceremony was to see the famous ‘Morthwyl Mawr’ from Aberaeron, which can now be seen at the museum. Mair Jones

Both a feast to the eyes and a most interesting conversation was had at the November meeting in the company of Meirion Jones, the Cardigan based artist. Through exhibiting over 60 of his paintings he took us from Aberaeron’s Pwll Cam to the wide plains of Patagonia revealing secrets as well as interesting stories regarding the characters who play such an important role in his work. It was great to see a number of local people amongst them. Meirion explained the process of rough drawing on location before returning to the studio to complete the finished picture. Through his wonderful presentation he brought the characters and the countryside of Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire to life for us - many thanks for ensuring that they will prevail through his work. We had a memorable evening that will long remain in our memories Mair Jones

The 18th March was the last talk of the 2024/2025 season and the speaker was me! This was the second of my talks about the people who have lived in Portland House. Last season I spoke of Bensha and his daughters:  The first owner Benjamin Evans, who was thrown off his farm tenancy for following his political beliefs The scandal surrounding the move of the post office from Aberaeron House His daughter, Margaret’s fascinating career as a University Matron and house keeper for Lady Llanover The mysterious circumstances surrounding the ‘death’ of her sea captain husband and that of her sister Jane’s. Bensha Bensha's Daughters: Ann, Margaret & Jane. This time, I introduced more of Bensha's descendants, the Howells: Anne, the runaway bride John, JM Howell, a man who did so much in every walk of Aberaeron’s life Fred, a multiple bigamist with wives in Llangrannog, London and Australia.   Bensha's Descendents You can read more about them and other remarkable residents of Portland House in articles on the Heritage page of this website :  -Portland People -Portland House Captains -The barque Glenara -The Aberaeron Post Office Scandal of 1874.

In September 2023, our first talk of the 2023-24 season, was by Michael Freeman, back by popular demand. Michael is the former Curator of Ceredigion Museums and Honorary Research Fellow at the National Museum of Wales. Always informative and entertaining, his topic this time was ‘Anne Evans, Highmead, the best farmer in the County.’ Temporary image until original is recovered. Here is a summary from Michael about her: Anne Evans (1738-1807) kept very detailed records of the produce of the Highmead estate farms (near Llanwenog) from 1778 until her death. After her husband died in 1787, leaving her with seven young children, she ran the farm and estate. She was obsessed with weighing and measuring the farm produce and kept some very detailed descriptions of the work of the maidservants' work in the dairy and brewer Anne recorded some of the costs of building their new house and provided us with an almost unique breakdown of the cost of building cottages for the workers; for repairing and improving mills and the cost and nature of her footman's livery. She kept many records of the volume of the corn sent for grinding and the weight of different grades of flour returned; the quantity of butter and cheese made and its current value and the weight of all the products of the animals that were slaughtered on the farm including the number of candles made from the tallow rendered from those beasts. Her notes provide us with a fascinating and very detailed insight into work at a Cardiganshire estate farm around 1800. Michael Freeman Nov 2023

26th February marks the beginning of eating disorders awareness week. We tend to think of anorexia and other eating disorders as a fairly modern phenomenon. In the 19th century, however, numerous young women, inspired by medieval saints, alleged they were forgoing food and surviving on faith alone. In reality some of them may have had anorexia, others like Dyfed’s own Sarah Jacobs had a more sinister story.   Sarah Jacobs became known far and wide as 'The Welsh Fasting Girl'. She was born at Llethr-neuadd farm, Llanfihangel-ar-arth, Carmarthenshire in 1857. After taking to her bed following an illness she appeared to have not eaten or drunk for nearly two years.    Visitors travelled miles to see her, eminent physicians debated her case and she was the subject of extensive press coverage. Queen Victoria was interested in the case and there were even rumours of a royal visit.   Sarah and the potential visit were certainly the subject of discussion here in Aberaeron and is recorded in Ann Howell’s letter of July 1869, written from Portland House to her son, J M Howell:     “They say that the Queen is coming here next week to see Sarah Jacob.      Ha, Ha!“   Sarah’s tragic death later in 1869 led to a man-slaughter case, the preliminary investigation for which took place in the Wilkes Head, Llandysul.   Sarah’s life and death have been featured in works of Welsh fiction, including  Sarah Arall   by Aled Islwyn and Gwenlyn Parry’s play  Sal . She was also clearly a major inspiration for Emma Donogue’s novel,  The Wonder  and the subsequent film based on the book.    You can read her story in the blog below by historical fiction writer S E Morgan:   https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/the-tragic-tale-of-the-welsh-fasting-girl-sarah-jacobs-1869/

New Year Newsletter introducing the new CAS website:

Prompted by some photos I sent her of Aberaeron’s Mackerel Fiesta, my friend and historical fiction writer S.E Morgan was inspired to look into this tradition. Her research took her well beyond our own town, as far afield as China in fact. Her fascinating article is available from the link below: https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/2023/08/30/aberaeron-and-its-mackerel-festival/

25th January: Dydd Santes Dwynwen is nearly upon us. Some of us will of course be celebrating this in preference to Valentine’s Day the following month. But who was Dwynwen? Why has she become known as ‘Wales’ St Valentine?’ Who, infact was St Valentine and why do people send their loved-ones cards on these day? The blogs below, by historical fiction writer S E Morgan, give us the answers and also introduce her novel, "The King over the Sea" which features Dwynwen:   The legend of St Dwynwen; the Welsh patron saint of lovers, and Shakespeare’s inspiration? https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/2024/01/22/25th-january-its-the-welsh-valentines-day-st-dwynwens-day-dydd-santes-dwynwen/

Excavations have recently been completed in Pendinas iron age fort. We were fortunate to hear all about this from Ken Murphy of Dyfed Archaeological Trust in our first talk of 2024. Unbelievably this is one of 700 Iron Age forts in Ceredigion alone. Here are articles in English and Welsh from Ken about both the excavations and the Pendinas festival held in September 2024.

Some members of Cymdeithas Aberaeron might be interested in the following event. Jane Austen’s 250th birthday celebration: open days at UWTSD Special Collections We will display a range of volumes associated with Jane Austen. The items on show will include her own copy of Arnaud Berquin’s L’ami de l’adolescence, (with Jane’s signature on the title page). We will display two more copies signed by her sister Cassandra. In addition, we will exhibit a selection of books Jane mentioned in her novels, (for instance Fanny Burney’s Cecilia mentioned in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion and Laurence Sterne’s A sentimental journey mentioned in Mansfield Park). The events will take place on Tuesday 16 December, (the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth) and on Thursday 18 December, (starting at 10 am and 2 pm on both days). Each will consist of a short talk, followed by a chance to look at the items on display. As we expect these to be very busy, it will be necessary to book places in advance. (The afternoon of 16 December is already fully booked.) The three volumes, signed by Jane and Cassandra Austen, will also be on display in UWTSD Lampeter Library on Wednesday 17 December, (10 am to 12 pm, 2 to 4 pm). If you would like to know more or to book a place, please contact Ruth Gooding (r.gooding@uwtsd.ac.uk)