CAS were delighted to host an update regarding the Aberaeron Coastal Defence Scheme from BAM's local representative, Gwen Clements, after last night's AGM. As expected, there was plenty of lively audience Q&A interaction throughout the update, particularly in light of the recent storms, high tides and the excellent support from the BAM contractors and local businesses for Quay Parade residents. Many thanks to Gwen for fielding the broad range of questions and for confirming the scope of work within the BAM contract. The scale of the 250m North Pier extension and central walkway along the spine certainly became apparent based on the simulated image (from BAM) below. Not sure if it's a par 3 or par 4 hole ... perhaps it will vary with the tide! A collage of historical photos of the harbour from the CAS archive was also displayed by Gwen. This will be passed on to Elizabeth Evans of Aberaeron Town Council to decide a suitable location for display in the town. Bilingual versions of the BAM newsletters were also made available (Q1 & Q2 versions are attached for reference). This includes FAQs, upcoming works, traffic management, articles and photos. Thanks again to Gwen and to all who attended and participated.

Dyma ddetholiad o ffotograffau o orymdaith Gŵyl Dewi Ysgol Gynradd Aberaeron ers yr wythdegau cynnar. Mae’r digwyddiad yn un pwysig yng nghalendr blynyddol Aberaeron, ac sy’n dal i ddenu tyrfa luosog i’r dre bob mis Mawrth. Erbyn hyn mae nifer o drefi ar draws Cymru yn cynnal parêd, ond credir mai Aberaeron oedd y cyntaf! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Ty8qGmJFkAfEqScT/?mibextid=KsPBc6

Here is a selection of photographs from Ysgol Gynradd Aberaeron’s annual St. David’s Day Parade since the early 80s. This is a popular event in Aberaeron’s calendar which draws a large crowd to the town every March. Although St. David’s Day parades have become popular lately, it is believed that Aberaeron’s was the first! https://www.facebook.com/share/v/Ty8qGmJFkAfEqScT/?mibextid=KsPBc6

Cranogwen has long been an unsung Welsh heroine. The author and historian Jane Aaron is doing much to address this in her book of that name published in 2023. We were privileged to have her come to give a presentation in Welsh at our February meeting. The striking cover image of Cranogwen, in her home village of Llangrannog, is by local artist Meinir Mathias. Below is an article by Jane, summarising the remarkable life of Cranogwen, or Sarah Jane Rees, to give her birth name.

What stories these walls could tell. Portland House has witnessed political intrigue, lives lost at sea, commerce and public service, temperance and drunkenness, feisty women, an elopement, abandoned wives and much more. At our March 2024 meeting I told the story of some of the first residents of Portland House: Bensha and his daughters. Well two of them anyway. 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 and the newly added The Aberaeron Post Office Scandal of 1874

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/

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.

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/

New Year Newsletter introducing the new CAS website:

Summer newsletter from our chair. The dark days of Covid restrictions thankfully over, Cymdeithas Aberaeron Society (CAS) was able to resume some sense of normality in 2023 ... Download the attached .pdf for the full article. Right-click to open in a new tab or window.

Local legends are always good to hear again. When she came to give a talk to CAS in 2022, historical fiction writer, S.E. Morgan also took the opportunity to explore the local area. Here is the resulting blog, with a description of her walk from Llangrannog and some history thrown in too: https://semorganhistoricalfiction.wordpress.com/2022/04/01/a-walk-from-llangrannog-in-the-footsteps-of-giants-the-tale-of-bicas-toothache/

Did you know that Ostium Ayron is the first recorded name for Aberaeron from way back in the 13th Century? I don’t think many of us did until our November lecture when Dr James January-McCann of The Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments of Wales gave a fascinating talk about his work collecting the historic place names in Wales. Here is his brief introduction to the List of Historic Place Names of Wales: https://historicplacenames.rcahmw.gov.uk is a groundbreaking and innovative resource, unique to Wales. The List contains over 700,000 historic place names collected from a variety of sources, which provide a fascinating insight into the land-use, archaeology and history of Wales. The place names included in the List reflect the various forms and spellings used from the Middle Ages to the present day, often including elements that refer to buildings, people, archaeological or topographical features. The creation of this List and its availability online, as well as through four regional Historic Environment Records, means that for the first time, members of the public, researchers and those involved in decision making on matters affecting the Welsh historic environment are able to easily make reference to a geo-located, national, authoritative record of historic place names. The names are collected from a variety of sources, such as historic maps, local history projects, books of place names, medieval poetry and old documents such as wills or deeds. We also have many thousands of names contributed by members of the public. The List is used by local and national government, developers and governmental bodies such as Cadw and Natural Resources Wales in the naming and renaming of new sites, streets and housing developments, to ensure that they are named with historic names, and that our place name heritage remains visible in the landscape.” Dr James January- McCann Dec 2023. Below is a copy of James' Powerpoint presentation that sadly we were unable to see on the night. It contains a number of helpful links: