Ceredigion

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**Ceredigion principal area**

Geography
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 4th 1,795 km² ? %
Admin HQ	Aberaeron
ISO 3166-2	GB-CGN
ONS code	00NQ
Demographics
Population: - (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 19th 78,300 Ranked 21st 44 / km²
Ethnicity	99.5% White
Welsh language - Any skills	Ranked 4th 61.2%
Politics
Ceredigion County Council http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/
Control	Independent / Liberal Democrat / Labour
MP	Mark Williams
AMs	Elin Jones (Constituency) Mid and West Wales (Regional)
MEPs	Wales

For other uses please see Ceredigion (disambiguation)

Ceredigion is a county and principal area in mid Wales. It is more-or-less identical in area to the historic county of Cardiganshire.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Places of interest
4 Culture and society
5 Government
6 External links

[edit] Geography

see also: List of places in Ceredigion

Ceredigion is a coastal county, bordered by Cardigan Bay to the west, Gwynedd to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire to the south, and Pembrokeshire to the south-west. Its area is 440,630 acres (1783 km²). The population of the county is 64,000.

The main settlements are Aberaeron, Aberarth, Aberystwyth, Cardigan, Lampeter, Llanddewi Brefi, Llandysul, Llanilar, Llanrhystud, New Quay, Newcastle Emlyn (partly in Carmarthenshire) and Tregaron.

The Cambrian Mountains cover much of the east of the county; this large area forms part of the desert of Wales. In the south and west the surface is less elevated. The highest point is Plynlimon at 2,486 feet (758 m), where five rivers have their source: the Severn, the Wye, the Dulas, the Llyfnant and River Rheidol, the last of which meets the Afon Mynach in a 300 foot (100 m) plunge at the Devil's Bridge chasm. The 50 miles (80 km) of coastline has many sandy beaches. The largest river is the River Teifi which forms the border with Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire for part of its length. Other significant rivers include the River Aeron which has its estuary at Aberaeron, the River Ystwyth and the River Rheidol both of which reach the sea in Aberystwyth harbour.

For a county of such a small population, it may be considered unusual that two universities are within the county boundaries: the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the University of Wales, Lampeter. The National Library of Wales, which was founded in 1907, is also located in the county.

[edit] History

see: Cardiganshire for historic information

The name Ceredigion means 'Land of Ceredig', who was a son of Cunedda, a chieftain who re-conquered much of Wales from the Irish around the 5th Century CE.

[edit] Places of interest

Aberystwyth Castle
Aberystwyth Electric Cliff Railway,
Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth - grid reference SN5881
Devil's Bridge - grid reference SN740770
Llywernog Silver Lead Mine
Nanteos Mansion
Strata Florida Abbey - grid reference SN7465
Vale of Rheidol Railway - grid reference SN7465
Welsh Gold Centre Tregaron

[edit] Culture and society

Ceredigion has a very high proportion of Welsh speakers in the population, only Gwynedd and Anglesey have a higher proportion. Ceredigion also has a significant number of non-Welsh speakers, most of whom were born outside Wales. These tend to be more concentrated in and around the two university towns and along the coast, e.g. in Borth, only 40% of the population was born in Wales and barely 36% of residents are Welsh-speaking. However non-Welsh speakers are now to be found in large numbers in every community.

The populace of Cerdigion are affectionately or dispargingly known as Cardis in other parts of Wales, especially in South Wales and they tend to be the butt of some jokes.

[edit] Government

see also: Ceredigion County Council

Between 1888 and 1974, the county was governed by Cardiganshire county council, and on local government reorganisation in 1974, a new Ceredigion district council was formed in the administrative county of Dyfed. On April 1, 1996, Ceredigion district was made a unitary authority, under the name of Cardiganshire, only to change its name back to 'Ceredigion' on April 2.

A referendum was held on May 20, 2004 on whether to have a directly-elected mayor for the county; this was rejected by a large majority.