Penparcau within Ceredigion UAPenparcau is a suburb of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, Wales.
[edit] Location
The original village was a small hamlet, one mile to the east of Aberystwyth town centre, but the building of extensive deco style semi-detched social housing from the 1920s on transformed the village. The village lies in the shadow of the Celtic Iron Age hill fort Pen Dinas, and between the River Ystwyth and the River Rheidol.
There is an Anglican church, Roman Catholic church, two Methodist chapels and a Quaker meeting house. The Tollgate Pub is named after the original Tollgate that stood at the top of Penparcau and is now in St. Fagans Welsh National History Museum. Penparcau also has its own woodland, Coed Geufron [2] run by the Woodland Trust and its own police station [3]. Other amenities include a Post Office, two small supermarkets, a garage, holiday park and hotel as well as two chip shops, one of which has a reputation as one of the best in the area. Penparcau recently hosted an "Alternative Energy and transport Festival" in Neuadd Goffa, attended by the local MP and mayor. At the bottom of the valley, despite being just below Penparcau, a new Welsh Assembly Government office is being built, which will house more than 750 staff. [4][5].
[edit] History
People have lived in and around Penparcau for over two thousand years. The fort is believed to have been occupied for some 300 years up to and including the 1st century BC. Pen Dinas is the largest Iron Age hill fort in Ceredigion. Estimated to have been first built around 400BC, the outline of the ancient ramparts are still evident. A distinctive memorial to the Duke of Wellington in the shape of an upturned cannon was built on the hilltop in 1858. The hilltop comprises a twin summit system and the mounded defenses divide into three systems. Excavations in the 1930s demonstrated at least four phases to the defenses. [6][7]. Pen Dinas is now more popular as tourist attraction for walkers and used in a more sedate manner for paragliding [8].
Penparcau in 1841 was misspelled as Penparke, Penparciau [9] or even Penparkie and stretched on both sides of the turnpike road from Trefechan to Southgate. The population of the hamlet was 239 people, most of whom were workers in agriculture and related industries. There were 3 agricultural labourers and only one farmer; the next most important occupation was that of mason of whom there were eight. There were three shoemakers, two tailors and two shipwrights as well as the following: rope-maker, joiner, tanner, carpenter, gardener, sawyer, wheelwright, weaver and saddler.
There is also interesting domestic architecture that can be assigned to Richard Emrys Bonsall [10]such as the Ebeneser Chapel; still in use today. The plans for many of these buildings can be found at the National Library of Wales.
A famous feature that existed in Penparcau was the tollhouse (tollgate). It was built in 1771 and stood at the southern junction of Penparcau (hence the name Southgate). It was built of local slate-stone and was roofed with Pembrokeshire slates. David Jones of Dihewyd was appointed as the first gatekeeper in November 1771, and the first tolls charged on 23 March 1772. The building contains just one room, one end being used for the collection of tolls. A single fireplace at the opposite end of the house was used for heating and cooking. Tollhouses were very unpopular with people in rural areas who had to pay to travel along the roads. At St. Fagans the house has been furnished in the style of 1843, the period of the Rebecca Riots when many tollgates were destroyed. Turnpike Trusts were eventually abolished in 1864 with county councils taking over responsibility for building and maintaining the roads but the Penparcau tollgate remained a residence until the 1960s.
[edit] Culture
The 2001 census reported that over 40% of the residents of Penparcau spoke Welsh and used Welsh daily.
[edit] Myth, Folklore and Legend
One of the more unusual residents is the headless dog of Penparcau (Aberystwyth). The myth tells of how a giant going to his father's rescue, rode at such a rate that his dog could not keep up with him and its head came off in the leash. The dog now roams, mournfully crying and looking for its long lost owner. [1] Other local stories relate to the discovery of ancient gold in Penparcau, thought to have once belonged to the druids (celts) living around the Penparcau/Pen Dinas area. There may be some truth to this as early coins have been found, that suggests some of the earliest religious activity in Wales took place on this site [11]. It has also been theorised that the original inhabitants were the same people that made the Banc Tynddol sun-disc [12] in nearby Cwmystwyth.
During one winter in the late 19th Century, villagers woke to find mysterious footprints in the fresh snow. It soon became apparent that these had not been made by any human as they were hoofprints made by a creature who walked on two legs and not four. Villagers followed these hoofprints and found that the creature had walked through fields, roads and even managed to walk over walls and roofs in one uninterrupted path. It was believed that the Devil had walked through Penparcau that snowy night and has never been seen back since.
[edit] References
- , Welsh Folklore & Folk Custom by T Gwynn Jones 1930
[edit] Other Links
Coordinates: 52°24'13.72?N, 4°4'48.89?W
(Source: Wikipedia) |