HISTORY
Teifi Catchment Management Plan 1996
Consultation report from the National Rivers Authority Welsh region
click link: www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:3464/OBJ/20002485.pdf.
Lower Teifi Valley Historic Landscape Characterisation
click link: Lower Teifi Valley Historic Landscape Characterisation.pdf
Tom Mathias Photographs
This remarkable collection of photographs represents the work of two gifted photographers from different eras and very different backgrounds.
The original photographs were taken by Tom Mathias, a self-taught photographer, at the turn of the 20th Century. Using simple equipment, Tom Mathias recorded the daily life around the Cilgerran district of Dyfed, west Wales.
Following Mathias's death in 1940 all his negatives were dumped in an outhouse, where they lay, forgotten, for more than thirty years.
James Maxwell (Maxi) Davis, a professional photographer living in the area, discovered them in the 1970s. The glass negatives were in a very poor condition. Many were broken and damaged beyond repair. Most of the reminder were very badly degraded, meaning a slow and painstaking process to print what images could be saved. Enough had survived however for Maxi to appreciate the importance of what he had found and set about the task of conserving and restoring the photographs.
It is thanks to these efforts that Tom Mathias's remarkable photographs have been saved for posterity.
click link: Tom Mathias Photographs | Museum Wales
A disused red telephone kiosk in a north Pembrokeshire village has been reborn as a museum celebrating the life of a local photographer who died nearly 70 years ago. The new use for the kiosk, which stands just 50 metres from the old house where photographer Tom Mathias lived, has won the local heritage group a £1,000 award from BT. The historic K6 kiosk at Cilgerran was bought from BT for £1 by the community council and handed over to Cilgerran language and heritage committee. The innovative idea is one of only eight around the UK to win a major BT Payphones award in a competition to find the best use of a kiosk adopted by the local community.
Click link: Tom Mathias Museum in the red telephone box, Pontrhydyceirt, Cilgerran, Ceredigion - See Around Britain
See also: A Tiny Gallery of a Very Unique Collection of Photographs 360 Panorama | 360Cities
ARCHAEOASTRONOMY AND THE SACRED LANDSCAPE OF STRATA FLORIDA
Strata Florida is an Abbey situated close to the source of the River Teifi. Starting with the uppermost layer, the remains of the Cistercian Abbey of Strata Florida, Ceredigion, Wales, the study moves back through the pre-Norman phase, and the Iron Age to the Bronze Age.
click link: THE SACRED LANDSCAPE OF STRATA FLORIDA
See also Guided Walk: Strata Florida walk - written guide.pdf (discoveringbritain.org)
Glen Johnson - The Teifi Estuary History Man
A site dedicated to promoting the history, architecture and archaeology of Cardigan, St. Dogmaels, Cilgerran, Llechryd, Ferwig, Llangoedmore, Llantood, Bridell, Monington and Mwnt.
click link: Glen Johnson | The Teifi Estuary History Man (glen-johnson.co.uk)
See the Video of the Length of the Teifi for Historical References
The Teifi has its source in Llyn Teifi, one of several lakes known collectively as theTeifi Pools. These are situated towards the north of the county of Ceredigion; the source is in the Cambrian Mountains at 1,493 feet (455m). This wide area of Mid-Wales, with a very sparse population, is part of what is sometimes called the "Desert of Wales". The river flows past Strata Florida Abbey and then through Pontrhydfendigaid before turning broadly southwest. Here it passes through Cors Caron, one of the great raised mires of Britain also known as Tregaron Bog or Cors Goch Glanteifi (translates from Welsh as red bog on the banks of the Teifi). From here the river descends through pastures and bogs forming meanders on farmland below. Several small tributaries join from the valley with gorges, rocky and tree-lined sections also in the area.
Over the next 30 miles (48km), the Teifi meanders southwest in a gentle arc passing through Tregaron, Llanddewi Brefi, Cwmann, Lampeter, Llanybydder, Llandysul, Newcastle Emlyn, and Cenarth. The river is tidal below Llechryd, descending through the steep-sided Cilgerran Gorge to Cardigan. West of Cardigan and St Dogmaels, the river broadens into a wide estuary with Poppit Sandson its west bank and Gwbert on its east bank as it enters Cardigan Bay.
It is sometimes asserted that the Afon Teifi at 76 miles (122km) are the longest rivers wholly in Wales though at about 78 miles (126km), the River Usk exceed this. The commentary on the videos has much reference to Historical material.
click link: From Sea to Source - Gallery Page
BBC The Story of Wales in 6 episodes on YouTube
Hydrogeology of Wales: Quaternary aquifers - Afon Teifi
The superficial deposits in the western part of the Afon Teifi catchment, which derive from the Irish Sea Ice Sheet, offer little potential for groundwater abstraction. The deposits are clay rich, and there are a number of springs which issue from bedrock at the perimeter of the drift. The hydrogeological role of the sandier drift deposits, which are known to underlie the clay-rich deposits in some places, is uncertain.
Dŵr Cymru operate a borehole at Olwen, near Lampeter [SN 582 496] which is 26.8 m deep and draws water from fluvioglacial deposits in the valley floor of the Afon Dulas, a tributary of the Afon Teifi. The borehole lithological log indicates that water is supplied from two sand and gravel aquifers, separated by a clay layer which confines the lower gravels. The borehole is licensed to abstract 395 m3/d, and generally takes close to the full licensed amount.
click link: Hydrogeology of Wales: Quaternary aquifers - Afon Teifi - MediaWiki (bgs.ac.uk)
Teifi Rivers Invertebrate Monitors - from Apr 2011
The Teifi Rivers Invertebrate Monitors (TRIM) are a group of volunteers who sample the invertebrate life in the River Teifi and its tributaries on a regular basis at defined collection points. The group is part of the Teifi Rivers Trust Fly Life Monitoring Project.
TRIM volunteers have been trained in theRiverfly Partnershipmethod of invertebrate identification and collection. Invertebrate samples are taken from the river and examined, categorised and recorded. The data is then submitted to the Environment Agency. See a map of where they data was collected here.
click link: Welcome to the Teifi Rivers Invertebrate Monitors (riverfly.co.uk)
Teifi Valley Historic Landscape Characterisation
Since 1998, the Dyfed Archaeology Trust has been involved in work examining the historic character of areas defined by the Register of Landscapes of Historic Interest in Wales. This is part of an ongoing pan-Wales project sponsored by Cadw and theCountryside Council for Wales.
Historic landscape characterisation involves the examination of historic processes that have shaped and moulded the present-day landscape. Components that make up the landscape such as field boundary types, field shapes, buildings, settlement patterns, parks and gardens, roads and railways, industry, and archaeological sites are all taken into consideration during characterisation.
By analysing all components it is possible to divide the landscape into historic landscape character areas. Each area comprises components that are distinct from its neighbours.
Areas of Historic Landscapes covered by the CCW/Cadw/ICOMOS UK Register of Landscapes of Historic Interest in Wales.
Link to the Cadw Historic Landscapes site (opens in a new window)
Link to the Countryside Commission for Wales Historic Landscapes site (opens in a new window)
click link: Archaeology in Wales - Lower Teifi Valley - Dyfed Archaeological Trust (dyfedarchaeology.org.uk)
click link: Archaeology in Wales - Newcastle Emlyn to Llandysul - Dyfed Archaeological Trust (dyfedarchaeology.org.uk)
Cardigan Postman created 58 foot map of the Teifi
Idris Mathias was a postman in Cardigan. His work took him along the Teifi River, and in 1945 he embarked on project that would take 17 years, drawing a 58-foot-long map of the area. His map includes sketches of birds, fishermen – and their names, local landmarks and place-names.
Drawn on to cartridge paper, result is joyous record of the landscape and people of the lower Teifi valley - from Newcastle Emlyn to Cardigan Bay. It even passes through Manordeifi, where Old St David’s church has been in our care since 2000.
I can get lost in in this - it’s so charming, cheerful and packed with information. I am so thankful that this wonderful map has been digitized for safekeeping by agreement between Idris and Beryl Mathias, the Welsh Place-Name Society, Ceredigion County Council, and the National Library of Wales.
You can explore the entire map - in high definition - on the National Library of Wales website: https://bit.ly/35yEFG2
You can learn more about the work of the Welsh Place-Name Society here: https://bit.ly/3iLDfjh
Teifi River - 1,000-year-old fishing trap found on Google Earth
Britain's most ancient fishing trap has been discovered off the coastline of Wales after research carried out on Google Earth.
click link: 1,000-year-old fishing trap found on Google Earth (telegraph.co.uk)
Beautiful Wales - Teifi Valley - About Coracles
