Old Castle Road, Cardigan
This country lane leads towards the site of an early castle beside the Teifi estuary. Old Castle Farm (no public entry) is at the end of the lane. Beyond it are remnants of defences, including low banks and an apparent entrance. The cliff on the north side provided a natural defence.
Roger de Montgomery, a Norman, built a castle there as part of his conquest of Ceredigion in 1093. The location gave his men control of the estuary and could be resupplied by sea if the castle was besieged.
Some historians have suggested that this may have been the site of an earlier fortification called Din Geraint. Din is an old Welsh word for a fort or fortified hill.
The Normans soon chose a site further upstream for a new castle, which became the centre of the town of Aberteifi (Cardigan). The first castle there existed by the 1130s and was probably rebuilt in the 13th century in the form we see today. The previous defence was known as ‘old castle’ to distinguish it from the newer one.
The ‘Old Castle Ferry’ crossed the river a little downstream of the farm to Pen-whelp on the Pembrokeshire bank. In the last quarter of the 19th century it was run by lifeboat coxswain David Rees, who also kept the nearby Ferry Inn.
Old Castle Quarry produced roadstone in the early 20th century. In 1904 two brothers entered the quarry and picked up a dynamite cartridge. One of the boys held it while the other applied a lighted match to it. The explosion tore off the tops of four fingers.
By 1905 Old Castle Road was suffering “great damage” from the weight of stones hauled along it from the quarry. The quarry’s lessee agreed to supply stones for the road to be repaired as far as the farm.
Old Castle Pool was a regular spot for Teifi salmon fishermen. In 1878 a large sturgeon weighing 26 pounds was caught in the salmon nets there and fetched a good price at market. In July 1891 it was reported that over 150 fine salmon were being landed on each tide at the pool.
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