A couple of days away at the end of August staying with the family in Cardigan, county town of Ceredigion. Apologies for the late appearance of this post - technical difficulties! I went Cardigan as a teenager with my parents on our 'circumnavigation' of Wales, and I really remember nothing of that first visit. On this my second I found a lot to enjoy. Another of those remarkable market towns with which our island is so blessed. Tourists should really forget London and get out into the 'provinces'.
Cardigan is a Norman foundation built atop a defensible ridge running north-south, given further protection to the south by the river Teifi and the west by a stream - the Avon Mwldan. I presume that the rock that makes up this ridge also ensures the firm foundations of the bridge. For all the natural protection of the site town & castle fell to the Lord Rhys in 1165, and it was at Cardigan that he gathered together bards from Wales and beyond for what is counted the first eisteddfod. As you might expect from such places mentioned in this blog before such as Carmarthen, Kidwelly and Bourne there is an accompanying monastic foundation to castle and town. In this case St Mary's priory to the east of the town, a Benedictine house under the authority of Chertsey Abbey and a site of pilgrimage. It is a pattern followed all over these isles where the Normans settled.
Until late into the 19th century Cardigan was a small port. There are still warehouses on the banks of the Teifi. Rather lovely they are too with their patterned courses of rubble - a feature of several other buildings in town. I suspect however they were not designed to be seen, these patterns, but hidden under plaster and limewash. The castle has been recently restored and contains an elegant Regency villa of 1827, Castle Green House, and a beautiful kitchen garden. To use that apparently favourite analogy of mine Cardigan is another example of the harmony of orchestral players. Architecturally there are really no soloists, but it is none the worse for that at all. It is how it should be. There are however two exceptions: the strident town hall and market of 1858-60 by R J Withers, and John Nash's Priory of 1788. The latter can seen in the last photograph, almost mutilated beyond recognition.
Finally, we ate really well in Cardigan: pizza at Pizzatipi, dinner at The Copper Pot and brunch at Crwst. All recommended.
