| River Aeron | |
|---|---|
 The Aeron at Aberaeron | |
 | |
| Native name | Afon Aeron (Welsh) |
| Location | |
| Country | Wales |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Llyn Eiddwen |
| • coordinates | 52°16′58.8″N4°2′38.4″W / 52.283000°N 4.044000°W |
| Mouth | Aberaeron |
• coordinates | 52°14′36.52″N4°15′52.24″W / 52.2434778°N 4.2645111°W |
The River Aeron (Welsh : Afon Aeron) is a small river in Ceredigion, Wales, that flows into Cardigan Bay at Aberaeron. It is also referred to on some older maps as the River Ayron.
The name of the river means "battle" or "slaughter" [1] and derives from the Middle Welsh aer with the same meaning. [2] Aeron is believed to have been a Welsh god of war. [3] Past interpretations of the name have included that of William Owen Pughe, who in his Dictionary of the Welsh Language believed Aeron meant "queen of brightness". [4] Aeron can also mean berries, fruit and grain. It is a word that suggests the fruitfulness of the autumn harvest in a valley of plenty. [5]
The Aeron has its source in Llyn Eiddwen, in the range of hills called Mynydd Bach. It then follows a more or less westerly and then north-westerly track to the sea. It has a rather broad river valley bounded by low hills and has relatively few significant tributaries which include the Gwenffrwd, Nant Wysg, Nant Picadilly, Nant y Wernen and Nant Rhiw Afallan. The Afon Mydr drains an area of old woodlands and dairy farming and includes the old farm of Rhiwbren Fawr.
On its way to the sea, the Aeron passes through the villages of Talsarn, Felinfach, Ystrad Aeron and Ciliau Aeron, where it runs alongside the restored walled garden (now in the care of a local charity) of Ty Glyn Mansion. [6]
A mile or so later, the Aeron then flows close to the restored mansion at Llanerchaeron which is now in the care of the National Trust before entering the town of Aberaeron where it passes into Cardigan Bay. There's a walk following the Aeron that runs along the river bank between Llanerchaeron and Aberaeron. [7]
It’s an indication of the fertility of the Aeron valley that eight mansions were built in the 18th and 19th centuries along the valley between Talsarn and Aberaeron, with two more looking down on the Aeron from above. [8]
Despite the relatively small size of the river, it sustains a population of salmon and brown trout.
Although the Aeron has suffered from intermittent pollution including some severe incidents in the 1970s caused by creamery waste and crude sewage escapes in the Felinfach area, the principal impacts are now diffuse agricultural waste, pesticides from agriculture and acidification especially from upland forestry plantations.[ citation needed ]
Dylan Thomas lived near the banks of the river in the 1940s, at a secluded mansion called Plas Gelli, just outside Talsarn. He called the Aeron valley "the most precious place in the world." [9] He also mentions the peacefulness of the Aeron valley in his 1949 radio broadcast, Living in Wales. [10] It’s said that Dylan and his wife, Caitlin, named their daughter, Aeronwy, after the Aeron. [11] The Dylan Thomas Trail follows the river from Talsarn to Aberaeron.
Talsarn and its hinterland was once the centre of a thriving group of country poets (beirdd y wlad ). They included John Davies (1722–1799), John Jenkins (1825–1894) [12] and his brother Joseph Jenkins (1818–1898), Jenkin Jenkins Felincoed (1845–1892), William Lloyd (d.1911, Llundain Fach), Dinah Davies Tynrhos (1851–1931), David Davies (Perthneuadd) and Dan Jenkins Pentrefelin (1856–1946). [13] Joseph Jenkins also wrote for agricultural journals, as well as writing a book on his travels in Australia.
The village of Ystrad Aeron, a few miles along the River Aeron from Talsarn, was the home of the bookbinder and poet, John Davies (Shôn Dafydd y Crydd) 1722–1799. Davies’ diary with poems for 1 January 1796 to 19 December 1799 is in the National Library of Wales. It is available online. [14]
The next village along the Aeron from Ystrad Aeron is Ciliau Aeron, which also has a varied literary tradition. The dockworker-poet James Hughes (Iago Trichrug) 1799-1844 was born here at Neuadd-ddu. [15]
The poet-priest David Davis (Dafis Castellhywel), 1745-1827 had his first ministry in the village's Unitarian chapel. [16]
The Dylan Thomas Trail runs through Ciliau Aeron, passing the Ty Glyn Aeron hotel, which had once been the home from the early 1900s of the poet and writer, Evelyn Anna Lewes (1873–1961). One of her books was A Guide to Aberaeron and the Aeron Valley (1922). She is entered in the Dictionary of Welsh Biography. [17] The publisher, Geoffrey Faber, bought the mansion in 1930 and T. S. Eliot took his holidays there throughout the 1930s. [18]
The poet, Stevie Krayer, who lived in Ciliau Aeron for over twenty years, has written a sequence of poems about the Aeron. [19]
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.
Aeron is used in several ways including:
Lampeter is a town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, at the confluence of the Afon Dulas with the River Teifi. It is the third largest urban area in Ceredigion, after Aberystwyth and Cardigan, and has a campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. At the 2011 Census, the population was 2,970. Lampeter is the smallest university town in the United Kingdom. The university adds approximately 1,000 people to the town's population during term time.
New Quay is a seaside town, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales; it had a resident population of 1,045 at the 2021 census. Located 19 miles (31 km) south-west of Aberystwyth, on Cardigan Bay with a harbour and large sandy beaches, the town lies on the Ceredigion Coast Path and the Wales Coast Path. It remains a popular seaside resort and traditional fishing town, with strong family and literary associations with the poet Dylan Thomas and his play, Under Milk Wood.
The A482 road is in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, Wales. It links Aberaeron at the junction with the A487 road with the A40 road at Llanwrda near Llandovery. It is 29 miles (47 km) long.
Ystrad Aeron is a small village west of Felinfach on the A482 between Lampeter and Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales. It is part of the constituent community of Llanfihangel Ystrad.
Aeronwy Bryn Thomas-Ellis was a poet, writer and translator of Italian poetry. She was the second child and only daughter of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife, Caitlin Macnamara.
Llanerchaeron, known as "Llanayron House" to its nineteenth-century occupants, is a grade I listed mansion on the River Aeron, designed and built in 1795 by John Nash for Major William Lewis as a model self-sufficient farm complex located near Ciliau Aeron, some 2+1⁄2 miles south-east of Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales. There is evidence that the house replaced an earlier mansion. A later owner, William Lewes, was the husband of Colonel Lewis's inheriting daughter.
The Carmarthen–Aberystwyth line was originally a standard-gauge branch line of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in Wales, connecting Carmarthen and Aberystwyth.
The Lampeter, Aberayron and New Quay Light Railway was an independent branch line railway in south west Wales. It connected Aberayron to the former Manchester and Milford Railway line at Lampeter; New Quay was never reached.
Theatr Felinfach is a small regional theatre located outside the village of Ystrad Aeron in Dyffryn Aeron, about 7 miles from the university town of Lampeter in Ceredigion, Wales.
Ciliau Aeron is a community and small village 4 miles from Aberaeron in Ceredigion, Wales on the left bank of the River Aeron. The community includes the village of Cilcennin.
Llangybi is a village and community in the south of Ceredigion, Wales. It is located on the A485 between Tregaron to the north and Lampeter to the south, a mile and a half north of the village of Betws Bledrws, which is in the wider community. Silian is another village located within the community.
The Dictionary of Welsh Biography (DWB) is a biographical dictionary of Welsh people who have made a significant contribution to Welsh life over seventeen centuries. It was first published in 1959, and is now maintained as a free online resource.
The Dylan Thomas Trail runs through places associated with the poet Dylan Thomas in Ceredigion, west Wales. It was officially opened by Aeronwy Thomas, Dylan's daughter, in July 2003. It also featured in the celebration in 2014 of the centenary of Dylan's birth.
Talsarn is a hamlet in the community of Nantcwnlle, Ceredigion, Wales. It lies some 16 miles (26 km) south of Aberystwyth, 64 miles (103 km) north-west of Cardiff, and 178 miles (286 km) from London. It is situated almost half-way between the towns of Lampeter and Aberaeron on the Ceredigion coast. The River Aeron passes close to Talsarn as it makes its way to the sea at Aberaeron.
The bedrock geology of Ceredigion in west Wales consists wholly of a considerable thickness of Ordovician and Silurian age sedimentary rocks of marine origin. Unconsolidated deposits of Quaternary age include a widespread cover of glacial till, valley floor alluvium and scattered peat deposits in both upland and lowland settings.
