AberystwythArticle Free Pass Aberystwyth, coastal town,
Ceredigion county (historic county of Cardiganshire), Wales,
where the River Rheidol flows into Cardigan Bay. Traces of
extensive Iron Age earthworks have been found on the hill Pen
Dinas, which overlooks the old port and town. The medieval
walled town grew around the castle erected by the Normans (1277)
on a rocky headland immediately north of the mouth of the River
Rheidol, into which the mouth of the River Ystwyth has also been
diverted. The town spread northward along the coast, especially
after the coming of railways. The port, now virtually unused,
once handled coastal, Irish, and even transatlantic shipping
(Welsh emigrants, for example, would sail direct for the United
States) and served as the outlet for the once-flourishing
Cardiganshire lead mines. The town has grown since the late 19th
century as a holiday resort and rural service centre and is the
headquarters of many regional services of western Wales. Though
established by English conquero