CAR 



450 



CAR 



(,'ardiff, great strength ; and is said to have covered no less 

 Cardigan. tnan eight acres of ground. Though a great part 

 "^V^ 1 ^ of the ruin has been barbarously pulled down, for 

 the purpose of erecting houses in the town, the pre- 

 sent possessor, the Marquis of Bute, has been care- 

 ful to repair and modernise what remains of it. The 

 entrance into it is bold, having two portcullisses and 

 massy gates. In the inside of the wall, around its 

 whole extent, there is a high terrace ; and on the 

 keep, which stands in the centre of the inclosed area, 

 there is a tower, which is of an octangular form, and 

 very handsome. 



Vessels of 200 tons can come up to the town ; but 

 the principal harbour, called Pennarth, or the Bear's 

 Head, is three miles below it, and adds greatly to 

 the consequence of Cardiff itself, as well as affords 

 shelter to those ships which are detained in the Bris- 

 tol Channel by westerly winds. The inhabitants of 

 the town and neighbourhood send great quantities of 

 corn, butter, and poultry, to the Bristol market. 

 Nearly 9000 tons of cast and wrought iron are an- 

 nually exported to London and other places ; and the 

 conveyance of this ponderous article has been great- 

 ly facilitated, by a canal cut from Pennarth Point to 

 Cyfartha iron-works, carried with much ingenuity 

 through a mountainous country to the extent of 25 

 miles, and subsequently improved by a branch which 

 goes off to other works at Aberdare. No less than 

 30,000 boxes of tin-plates, which are manufactured 

 at a place called Melyn Griffin, about four miles dis- 

 tant, are annually sent off for Bristol ; and the scropes 

 of iron-plate, from which the tin is made, are convert- 

 ed into bolt-iron for ship-building, and form another 

 considerable article of exportation in the trade of 

 Cardiff. 



According to the return made in 1801, it contains 

 327 houses, and 1870 inhabitants ; and of these, 213 

 are stated to be engaged in trade and manufacture. 

 By the return of 1811, its population amounted to 

 2457. It is an ancient corporation, governed by the 

 constable of the castle, two bailiffs, twelve aldermen, 

 twelve capital burgesses, &c. ; and along with Cow- 

 bridge, Swansea, Longher, Aberavon, Kenfig, Neath, 

 and Lantrissent, sends one member to parliament. 

 Here a court of record is held every fortnight ; and 

 the assizes for the county meet in April and August. 

 There are two weekly markets, on Wednesdays and 

 Saturdays, which are well supplied : Those held in 

 the second Wednesdays in March, April, and May, 

 are very large. And there are fairs for horses, cat- 

 tle, &c. on June 19, Sept. 19, and Nov. 30. See 

 Evans' Tour in South Wales ; and Barber's Tour in 

 South Wales. (T) 



CARDIGAN, called by the Welsh Aberth-y, is 

 the county town of Cardiganshire, in South Wales. 

 It is situated on a steep bank, and about two miles 

 from the mouth of the river Tivy, over which there 

 is a stone bridge of five arches, that leads into Pem- 

 brokeshire. The river is navigable here for vessels of 

 150 tons, and there is a tolerably good key for load- 

 ing and unloading; though a dangerous bar, which 

 lies at the mouth of the river, must ever prevent the 

 town from becoming a great commercial place. At 

 the commencement of the war, Cardigan had a con- 

 siderable export trade to Ireland and other places, 

 in lead and corn, of which last article it annually 



shipped off from 50,000 to 100,000 bushels ; but at Cardigan 

 present, the commerce in which it chiefly engages, ^ shire, 

 and on which it chiefly depends, is furnished by the """* 

 iron-works in its vicinity. In 1801, it contained 415 

 houses, and 1911 inhabitants, of whom not more 

 than 200 were employed in trade and manufactures. 

 In 1811, the population was 2129. It is governed 

 by a mayor, a recorder, twelve aldermen, and thir- 

 teen common councilmen ; and, in conjunction with 

 the outlying boroughs of Aberystwith, Lampeter, 

 and Adpar, sends one member to parliament,- the 

 number of voters amounting to about 1200. Though 

 the houses and shops are on a small scale, yet, upon 

 the whole, the aspect of the town is pleasing. At 

 the same time, considering that it is the capital of the 

 county, it has an air of poverty in it. The principal 

 public buildings are, the church, which is a stately 

 edifice ; the town hall, where the assizes are held, which 

 has a good appearance ; and the county gaol, which 

 was erected in 1797, and is sufficiently commodious. 

 Cardigan was anciently surrounded by a wall ; and 

 near the bridge are the ruins of a castle, which seems 

 to have been a spacious structure. It is said to have 

 been built by Gilbert de Clare in the time of Hen- 

 ry II. ; and Powel affirms, that it was built for the 

 purpose of defending the borders. In 1164 it wag 

 besieged, taken, and razed to the ground by Rhys 

 Gryffyd. Cardigan has a market for ordinary pur- 

 poses on Wednesday and Saturday ; and four fairs 

 annually, viz. on February 13. and April 5. for 

 horses, pedlars' ware, &c. and on September 8. and 

 December 19. for black cattle, &c. See Malkin'6 

 Scenery, Antiquities, fyc. of South Wales, vol. ii. ; 

 Evans' Tour through South Wales; and Lipscomb's 

 Tour, Sfc. (T) 



CARDIGANSHIRE, in Welsh Swidh Abcr- 

 leini, or Sir Abler Teivi, a county in South Wales. 

 It anciently formed one of the six parts into which 

 the kingdom of Wales, called Dinevovvr, was divided, 

 and contained four cantrefs and ten comots : (See 

 Enderbie's Cambria Triumphans, p. 214.) It is 

 bounded on the north by Merionethshire, on the 

 west by that part of St George's Channel called Car- 

 digan Bay, on the south by the counties of Caermar- 

 then and Pembroke, and on the east by those of 

 Radnor and Brecknock. The western side of it has 

 suffered great depredations from the sea. Accord- 

 ing to tradition, an extensive tract of land has been 

 swept away ; and, instead of many flourishing towns, 

 there now remain only a few miserable villages. 

 Some have supposed, that the whole of Cardigan 

 Bay was formerly a spacious plain, on which the 

 sea made gradual encroachments, till its progress was 

 stopped by the elevated ground which now encircles 

 the shore ; and the appearance which the scene exhi- 

 bits, together with the common opinion that prevails 

 among the people, renders this supposition extreme- 

 ly probable. 



This county may be divided into two districts, the 

 lower and the upper. On the more elevated grounds 

 of the lower district, the soil is in general a light 

 sandy loam, varying in- depth from four inches to a 

 foot, and having for its substratum a slaty kind of 

 rock. In the valleys it is very deep, and, with a few 

 exceptions, very dry. The manures made use of are 

 dung, lime, and marie. Tolerable crops are raised 



