The village is known for the Bedd Taliesin, a hilltop Bronze Age tumulus which is traditionally regarded as the site for the grave of the Welsh bard, Taliesin. A manuscript in the hand of 18th century literary forgerer Iolo Morganwg claimed he was the son of Saint Henwg of Llanhennock but this is contrary to every other fact and tradition. It is listed as a Historic Monument. It is a round-kerb cairn with a cist about 2m long. The capstone has fallen; the side stone slabs are more or less in their original positions.
The cairn has no proven connection with the historical Taliesin, a 6th-century poet esteemed by the poets of medieval Wales as the founder of the Welsh poetic tradition whose surviving work includes praise poems to the rulers of the early Welsh kingdom of Powys and Rheged, in the Hen Ogledd (modern northern England/southern Scotland). He became a figure of legend in medieval Wales and his association with Elffin ap Gwyddno, son of the king of the fabled Cantre'r Gwaelod, off the coast of Ceredigion, may account for the monument's name.
The village was established in the 1820s, when a number of houses were built on former common land that had been sold to fund the drainage of Cors Fochno. The village then further expanded in the 1860s to house the families of miners working in the lead mines in the area. Prior to the building in the 1820s there were only a few scattered houses along the turnpike road, and the settlement was known as 'Tafarn Fach' (Small Tavern) - the story locally was that the new name was chosen as a more respectable one, given the religious sensibilities of the time.
The village includes a chapel (Rehoboth) and a community hall (Llanfach). The village primary school (Ysgol Llangynfelyn) was closed by Ceredigion Council in 2016.
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.
In Welsh mythology, Elffin ap Gwyddno was a son of Gwyddno Garanhir, 'Lord of Ceredigion'. The earliest example of the name occurs in several of the mythological poems attributed to Taliesin in the Book of Taliesin. The date of their composition is uncertain but probably predates the Norman conquest. Several late medieval compositions refer to Elffin and Taliesin in more detail.
Gwyddno Garanhir was the supposed ruler of a sunken land off the coast of Wales, known as Cantre'r Gwaelod. He was the father of Elffin ap Gwyddno, the foster-father of the famous Welsh poet Taliesin in the legendary account given in the late medieval Chwedl Taliesin.
Taliesin was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three kings.
The Mabinogion are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created c. 1350–1410, as well as a few earlier fragments. The title covers a collection of eleven prose stories of widely different types, offering drama, philosophy, romance, tragedy, fantasy and humour, and created by various narrators over time. There is a classic hero quest, "Culhwch and Olwen"; a historic legend in "Lludd and Llefelys", complete with glimpses of a far off age; and other tales portray a very different King Arthur from the later popular versions. The highly sophisticated complexity of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi defies categorisation. The stories are so diverse that it has been argued that they are not even a true collection.
Strata Florida Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey situated just outside Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The abbey was founded in 1164. After the region around St Davids was firmly occupied by the Norman Marcher lordship of Pembroke by the early 12th century, with St Davids firmly under Norman influence thereafter, the princely Dinefwr family of Deheubarth transferred their patronage to Strata Florida, and interred many of their family members there.
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.
Welsh mythology consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of the predominantly oral societies Celtic mythology and history were recorded orally by specialists such as druids. This oral record has been lost or altered as a result of outside contact and invasion over the years. Much of this altered mythology and history is preserved in medieval Welsh manuscripts, which include the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin. Other works connected to Welsh mythology include the ninth-century Latin historical compilation Historia Brittonum and Geoffrey of Monmouth's twelfth-century Latin chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae, as well as later folklore, such as the materials collected in The Welsh Fairy Book by William Jenkyn Thomas (1908).
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg, was a Welsh antiquarian, poet and collector. He was seen as an expert collector of Medieval Welsh literature, but it emerged after his death that he had forged several manuscripts, notably some of the Third Series of Welsh Triads. Even so, he had a lasting impact on Welsh culture, notably in founding the secret society known as the Gorsedd, through which Iolo Morganwg successfully co-opted the 18th-century Eisteddfod revival. The philosophy he spread in his forgeries has had an enormous impact upon neo-Druidism. His bardic name is Welsh for "Iolo of Glamorgan".
Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing to the works of the 16th century.
Llanddewi Brefi is a village, parish and community of approximately 500 people in Ceredigion, Wales. The village is notable for the famous Synod of Brefi held here in the sixth century. A number of miraculous events are said to have occurred during the synod, most notably by Saint David Welsh: Dewi Sant, patron saint of Wales. Today, it is one of the largest parishes in Wales and lies 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Lampeter between Tregaron and Llanfair Clydogau. It is in the electoral ward of Llangeitho.
Sixth century northern Brittonic monarch
Penbryn is a small coastal village and community in Ceredigion, Wales, about 8 miles (13 km) from Cardigan.
Penparcau is a village and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, situated to the south of Aberystwyth.
Bedd Taliesin is the legendary grave (bedd) of the poet Taliesin, located in Ceredigion, Wales. The Bronze Age round cairn is a listed Historic Monument. It is a round-kerb cairn with a cist about 2m long. The capstone has fallen; the side stone slabs are more or less in their original positions.
Llanrhychwyn is a hamlet in Conwy county borough, Wales. It lies in the Conwy valley, less than a mile south of Trefriw, and a mile north-west of Llanrwst. Today neighbouring Trefriw is a village with a population of around 600, but in the time of Llywelyn Fawr, and up to the early 19th century, Llanrhychwyn was larger than Trefriw, which consisted simply of "a few houses here and there". Indeed, even today both Trefriw and Llanrhychwyn lie within the parish of Llanrhychwyn. The area around Llanrhychwyn had a population of only 178 in 2011.
Welsh-language literature has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. The earliest Welsh literature was poetry, which was extremely intricate in form from its earliest known examples, a tradition sustained today. Poetry was followed by the first British prose literature in the 11th century. Welsh-language literature has repeatedly played a major part in the self-assertion of Wales and its people. It continues to be held in the highest regard, as evidenced by the size and enthusiasm of the audiences attending the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales, probably the largest amateur arts festival in Europe, which crowns the literary prize winners in a dignified ceremony.
Llangynfelyn is a community in Ceredigion, Wales, midway between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth. It stretches from the Leri estuary in the west to Moel y Llyn in the east, and from Lodge Park in the north to Talybont on the A487 to the south; the total area is 9 square miles (23 km2). The population in 2001 was 641, falling to 587 at the 2011 Census. The parish includes Llangynfelyn, Tre-Taliesin, Tre'r Ddôl and Craig y Penrhyn. The parish is named after the parish church of St Cynfelyn.
Cwmsymlog is a short valley, sheltering a hamlet of the same name, in Ceredigion, in the west of Wales. Once an important mining area, but the mining slowly declined and finally came to an end in 1901. Now it is peaceful, open countryside with a few mining remains, scattered houses and farmland. It is also the name of a Site of Special Scientific Interest at that location.
Bont Goch is a village in Ceredigion, Wales, 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of Aberystwyth. With Talybont, it is in the community of Ceulanamaesmawr.
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