Site of cottage, offices, pub and garden (alt. Aber-Strincell) now ruined and overgrown near the coast edge between Llansantffraed and Llanrhystud. The settlement is included within the Scheduled area of the Aberstrincell Lime Kilns (No. CD155)

A cottage and garden are depicted and apportioned here on the 1844 tithe of Llansaintfraed, recorded as owned by John Hughes Esq (Alltlwyd Estate) and occupied by David James. To the southwest of the cottage are the Aberstrincell Lime Kilns and coal yard (NPRN 40647) which were also recorded as occupied by David James, along with Evan Morgan.

It is likely that the cottage was directly associated with the lime kilns, possibly serving as the home for one of the lime-keepers, David James. An 1850 plan of Aber-Strincell by George Pugh of Aberystwyth (National Library Wales) labels the building as Inn & Offices, with Petty Session Records (Aberaeron: NLW 20887) naming David James as licensee from 1836. In the 1841 census it was named as the Limekiln Arms. The office and pub would have served both the lime kilns and the coastal trade of the area, reflected in the remains of breakwaters and jetties situated on the foreshore just below the settlement (NPRNs 518853, 800603). The lime kilns were active on the 1st Edition 25-inch Ordnance Survey map (published 1888) but disused by the 2nd Edition (published 1905).

The tithe map depiction of 1844 suggests the settlement comprised two conjoined buildings aligned north to south, with a small enclosed garden to the north. By the 1850 plan a third building had been added, joined to the earlier range at the northwest corner. The 1st edition 25-inch Ordnance Survey map show a path leading here from the beach and running in front of the lime kilns; it was also accessed via a lane called Lôn Yard (Edwards 1936: 66), running north from the main road.

A sketch of the cottage by Thomas Evan Price of Llanrhystud in 1916 (National Library Wales) references it once being a pub with the title ‘Hen dafarn – wedi bod’. The sketch shows a similar layout to that shown on the Ordnance Survey map. It depicts the main north-south aligned structure as a single story rendered and white-washed thatched cottage with a store of the same build attached on its north side. Next to this, aligned east-west was a second building with two windows in the gable end. It appears as a different build to the cottage, possibly of slate and stone given its grey colour.

Louise Barker, RCAHMW, May 2024

Sources

A Pint of History Please – Exploring the History of Ceredigion’s Pubs: Aberstrincell, Llanon https://pint-of-history.wales/explore.php?func=showpub&id=306

Cadw Scheduled Monument CD155: https://cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/reports/sam/FullReport?lang=en&id=748

Edwards, William, 1936 Llanrhystyd. Transactions of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, 11, 63-67.

Moore-Colyer, R. J., 1988 Of Lime and Men: Aspects of the coastal trade in lime in south west Wales in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Welsh History Review, 1, 54-77.

Moore-Colyer, R. J., 1990 Coastal Limekilns in South West Wales. Folk Life, 28, 19-30.

National Library Wales: 1844 Tithe map and apportionment for Llansaintfraed, Cardigan https://places.library.wales/

National Library Wales: 1850 plan of Aber-Strincell by George Pugh of Aberystwyth (National Library Wales: MAP7158 134/1/16), [Plan of Aber-Strincell] [cartographic material] / George Pugh. - National Library of Wales

National Library Wales: Sketchbook of Welsh Views by Thomas Evan Price, 1916. This has sketches of the lime kilns and adjacent cottage/pub National Library of Wales Viewer

OS 1st Edition 25-inch map (published 1888)

OS 2nd Edition 2-inch map (published 1905)

Site Record

Cottage, Office, Pub and Garden, Aberstrincell