| Penparcau | |
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Penparcau
Penparcau shown within Ceredigion |
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| Population | 3,088 (2001)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SN5880 |
| Principal area | Ceredigion |
| Ceremonial county | Dyfed |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ABERYSTWYTH |
| Postcode district | SY23 |
| Dialling code | 01970 |
| Police | Dyfed-Powys |
| Fire | Mid and West Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | Ceredigion |
| Welsh Assembly | Ceredigion |
| List of places: UK • Wales • Ceredigion | |
Penparcau is a suburb of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, Wales.
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The original village was a small hamlet, one mile east of Aberystwyth town centre, but the building of extensive Art Deco style semi-detached social housing from the 1920s on transformed the village. The village lies in the shadow of the Celtic Iron Age hill fort of Pen Dinas, and between the River Ystwyth and the River Rheidol. Penparcau is part of the only UNESCO Biosphere reserve in Wales, the Dyfi Biosphere.[2]
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[3] that stood on the old toll road at the top of Penparcau and is now in St Fagans National History Museum near Cardiff.
Penparcau has its own woodland, Coed Geufron[4] run by the Woodland Trust and its own police station.[5] Other amenities include a post office, two small supermarkets, a garage, holiday park and hotel and until recently two fish and chip shops, one of which has a reputation as one of the best in the area. It also, until recently, had its own travel agent, which closed down in late 2007.
Penparcau is playing a key part in the Transition Town movement in Wales[6] and has hosted an "Alternative Energy and Transport Festival" in Neuadd Goffa, attended by the local MP and mayor. At the bottom of the valley, just below Penparcau, is a new Welsh Assembly Government office building, designed to house more than 550 staff.[7][8]
People have lived in and around Penparcau for over two thousand years. The Iron Age hillfort 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 hillfort in Ceredigion. Estimated to have been first built around 400 BC, the outline of the ancient ramparts is still evident.
A distinctive memorial to the Duke of Wellington in the shape of an upturned cannon was built on the hilltop in 1852. The hilltop comprises a twin summit system and the mounded defences divide into three systems. Archaeological excavations in the 1930s demonstrated at least four phases to the defences.[9][10] Pen Dinas is now more popular as a tourist attraction for walkers and used in a more sedate manner for paragliding.[11]
Penparcau (pronounced 'pen parky') in 1841 was spelled Penparke, Penparciau,[12] Penparkie or even Pen Y Parciau[13] (on the 1890 OS map) and stretched on both sides of the turnpike road from Trefechan to Southgate. The population of the hamlet was 239, most of whom were workers in agriculture and related rural industries. There were three agricultural labourers and only one farmer; the next most important occupation was that of stonemason 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.
In the 18th century, smuggling was a key part of the economy, with tea, salt, rum and tobacco being some of the things smuggled into the local area. There are records in the national archive showing an extensive smuggling ring run by the Powell and neighbouring Stedman families. The smuggled goods were bought into Penparcau to avoid the excise men stationed in Aberystwyth.
There is also interesting domestic architecture that can be assigned to Richard Emrys Bonsall[14] 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 toll house. 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 were 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. Toll houses 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 in Wales. Turnpike Trusts were eventually abolished in 1864 with county councils taking over responsibility for building and maintaining the roads but the Penparcau toll house remained a residence until the 1960s.
The United Kingdom Census 2001 reported that over 40% of the residents of Penparcau spoke Welsh and used Welsh daily, larger than any other individual census zone within that area, when compared to the other census data sets.[15] As a combined zone, Aberystwyth South (Penparcau and Trefechan) has more Welsh language users.[16]
The area has a long literary tradition. The famous bard/academic writer D. Gwenallt Jones (David James Jones) lived in the area.[17] More recently another resident, Ifan Morgan Jones,[18] won the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize for his novel at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2008.
One of the more unusual residents is the headless dog of Penparcau. 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.[19] 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 and Pen Dinas area. There may be some truth to this as early coin hoards have been found, that suggests some of the earliest religious activity in Wales took place on this site.[20] It has also been theorised that the original inhabitants were the same people that made the Banc Tynddol sun-disc[21] in nearby Cwmystwyth. There are also many stories relating to the pirates that used this part of the coastline such as Bartholomew ‘Black Bart’ Roberts the Pirate.
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.
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