Cardiganshire County Council was the local government authority for the county of Cardiganshire, Wales, between 1889 and 1974. It was superseded by Dyfed County Council.
The administrative county of Cardigan and its local authority, the Cardiganshire County Council was established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974. [1] The Ceredigion District Council operated between 1974 and 1996 as a district within the new Dyfed County Council. As a result of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, which came into force on 1 April 1996, a new unitary authority of Cardiganshire was established with boundaries identical to those of the previous county council. [2]
During the period, Liberal candidates won large majorities at each election and Conservative support was limited to some of the towns and areas where local gentry continued to gain some personal support. The leadership of the council was composed mainly of prosperous middle class tradesmen, professionals and nonconformist ministers.
The first election was held in 1889 and the Liberal Party held a large majority of the seats down to the First World War, reflecting its dominance over the politics of the county. [3]
The first meeting of the council was a notable watershed, as Morgan Evans of Oakford proposed that in fairness to the Welsh councillors business should be transacted in Welsh as well as in English. He proceeded to propose the Aberystwyth tradesmen Peter Jones, elected to represent rural Trefeurig as chair. The Earl of Lisburne seconded this proposal. [4] Despite the fiery rhetoric at this initial election and at later contests, the Conservatives' willingness to accept the Liberal triumph was met in return with a tacit acceptance by the Liberals that the Conservatives be allocated a number of aldermanic seats. It was nearly ten years, however, before the council had a Conservative chairman: J.C. Harford of Falcondale, who was elected on a motion moved by Peter Jones. [5]
By the early years of the twentieth century much of the earlier enthusiasm had become dissipated and many members attended only a few meetings a year. [6]
In the early years the county council held their meetings at Lampeter Town Hall. [7] The county council established offices for county officials and their departments at the former town hall in Aberaeron in 1910 and it was not until 1950 that the council established a permanent base at Swyddfa'r Sir in Aberystwyth. [8] Some departments, including the departments of the county surveyor and the county architect, remained at Aberaeron. [9]
Dyfed is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel.
Ceredigion ( ), historically Cardiganshire, is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Aberystwyth is the largest settlement and, together with Aberaeron, is an administrative centre of Ceredigion County Council.
Aberaeron, previously anglicised as Aberayron, is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. Located on the coast between Aberystwyth and Cardigan, its resident population was 1,274 in the 2021 census.
Ceredigion was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Created in 1536, the franchise expanded in the late 19th century and on the enfranchisement of women. Its boundaries remained virtually unchanged until 1983. From 1536 until 1885 the area had two seats : a county constituency (Cardiganshire) comprising the rural areas, the other the borough constituency known as the Cardigan District of Boroughs comprising a few separate towns; in 1885 the latter was abolished, its towns and electors incorporated into the former, reduced to one MP. The towns which comprised the Boroughs varied slightly over this long period, but primarily consisted of Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Adpar, the latter now a suburb of Newcastle Emlyn across the Teifi, in Carmarthenshire.
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as principal areas in the Act, and abolished the previous two-tier structure of counties and districts. It came into effect on 1 April 1996.
Carmarthenshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It provides a range of services including education, planning, transport, social services and public safety. The council is one of twenty-two unitary authorities that came into existence on 1 April 1996 under the provisions of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. It took over local government functions previously provided by the three district councils of Carmarthen, Dinefwr, and Llanelli, as well as the county-level services in the area from Dyfed County Council, all of which councils were abolished at the same time.
Ceredigion County Council is the governing body for the county of Ceredigion, since 1996 one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The council's main offices are in Aberaeron.
Pembrokeshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Pembrokeshire, one of the principal areas of Wales.
Matthew Lewis Vaughan-Davies, 1st Baron Ystwyth was a Welsh Liberal Party politician. He was Liberal MP for the Cardiganshire Division from 1895 until 1921.
Dyfed County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Dyfed in south west Wales. It operated between 1974 and 1996. The county council was based at County Hall, Carmarthen.
The first election to the Cardiganshre County Council was held in January 1889. It was followed by the 1892 election. The county was divided into numerous single member wards with two councillors elected to represent Cardigan, Lampeter, New Quay and Llandysul, and four to represent the town of Aberystwyth. 37 Liberals, 10 Conservatives and 1 Unionist were returned.
John Morgan Howell (1855-1928) was a prominent figure in the public life of Cardiganshire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A supporter of the Liberal Party, he represented Aberaeron as a county councillor for over thirty years and served on many other public bodies.
The fourth election for Cardiganshire County Council took place in March 1898. They were preceded by the 1895 election and followed by the 1901 election
The sixth election for Cardiganshire County Council took place in March 1904. They were preceded by the 1901 election and followed by the 1907 election
The ninth election for Cardiganshire County Council took place in March 1913. They were preceded by the 1910 election and followed by the 1919 election as no election took place in 1916 due to the First World War.
Ceredigion District Council was one of six district-level authorities in the county of Dyfed, Wales, from 1974 until 1996. The district had an identical area to the pre-1974 administrative county of Cardiganshire. From its creation in 1974 the district used the name "Ceredigion" rather than "Cardiganshire", which had been used for the former county council. Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw Dyfed County Council abolished and Ceredigion become a unitary authority, with the district council taking over county-level services to become Ceredigion County Council.
Merionethshire County Council was a local authority in Wales from 1889 until its abolition in 1974.
Aberystwyth Town Hall is a municipal structure in Queen's Square, Aberystwyth, Wales. The structure, which was the headquarters of Aberystwyth Borough Council, has operated since 2012 as a public library and a pensioners' day centre.
The 2022 Ceredigion County Council election took place as of 5 May 2022 to elect 38 members to Ceredigion Council. On the same day, elections were held to the other 21 local authorities and to community councils in Wales as part of the 2022 Welsh local elections. The previous all-council election took place in May 2017 and future elections will take place every five years.
County Hall, formerly Aberaeron Town Hall, is a municipal building in Market Street, Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales. The structure, which is now used as a public library, is a Grade II listed building.
For the County Education Committee, the conversion of offices to water carriage system at Brongest C.P. School. The County Architect, County Hall, Aberaeron.