- source: Family History Library Catalog
Henfynyw is a parish at the mouth of the River Aeron on its southeast bank. The village of Aberaeron was carved out of the parish in 1894 and made an urban district. It is now in Ceredigion and is the headquarters of Ceredigion County Council. The remaining part of Henfynyw parish in 1894 was named Lower Henfynyw. It too was absorbed into Aberaeron in 1921. (Source: A Vision of Britain through Time)
A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Henfynyw from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:
- "HENFYNYW, a parish in Aberayron [registration] district, Cardigan[shire]; on the coast, at the mouth of the river Ayron. It contains part of the town of Aberayron: which see. Acres: 2,261; of which 120 are water. Real property: £1,732. Population: 1,067. Houses: 254. The property is divided among a few. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St. Davids. Value: £115. Patron: the Bishop of St. Davids. The church is indiffferent."
Research Tips
- A 1900 Ordnance Survey map of the historic county of Cardiganshire is available on the A Vision of Britain through Time website. This shows all the old parishes within their urban and rural districts. Large farms and estates are also marked.
- Ceredigion Archives has a website with a list of their holdings, as well as historical notes on places in Cardiganshire.
- Some words in Welsh come up time and time again and you may want to know what they mean or how to pronounce them. For example,
"Eglwys" is a church and the prefix "Llan" is a parish.
"w" and "y" are used as vowels in Welsh.
"Ll" is pronounced either "cl" or "hl" or somewhere in between. "dd" sounds like "th".
The single letter "Y" is "the" and "Yn" means "in".
"uwch" means "above"; "isod" is "below" or "under";
"gwch" is "great", "ychydig" is "little";
"cwm" is a "valley".
- In both Welsh and English all these words are commonly used in place names in the UK. Place names are often hyphenated, or two words are combined into one. Entering your problem phrase into Google Search, including the term "meaning in Welsh", will lead you to Google's quick translation guide. I'm no authority; these are just things I have picked up while building up this gazetteer for WeRelate.
|
