officers. The latter was wounded, and Lord Cardigan was tried before the House of Lords on a charge of feloniously shooting his adversary. But the trial was a mere sham, and on a trivial technical ground he was acquitted. In 1854, at the outbreak of the Crimean War, he was appointed to the command of the light cavalry brigade, with the rank of major-general, and he spent a very large sum in the purchase of horses and on the equipment of his regiment. He took a prominent part in the early actions of the campaign, and displayed throughout the greatest personal courage and the greatest recklessness in exposing his men. In the charge of the light brigade at Balaklava (q.v.) he was the first man to reach the line of the Russian guns; and Cardigan and his men alike have been credited by the bitterest critics of the charge with splendid daring and unquestioning obedience to orders. At the close of the war he was created K.C.B., and was appointed inspector-general of cavalry, and this post he held till 1860. In 1863 he engaged without success in legal proceedings against an officer who had published an account of Balaklava which the earl held to contain a reflection on his military character. He attained the rank of lieutenant-general in 1861. He was twice married, in 1826 and 1858, but had no children. On his death, which took place on the 28th of March 1868, the family titles (including the English barony of Brudenell, cr. 1628) passed to his relative, the second marquess of Ailesbury.
CARDIGAN (Aberteifi), a seaport, market-town and municipal borough, and the county town of Cardiganshire, Wales, picturesquely situated on the right bank of the Teifi about 3 m. above its mouth. Pop. (1901) 3511. It is connected by an ancient stone bridge with the suburb of Bridgend on the southern or Pembroke bank of the river. It is the terminal station of the Whitland-Cardigan branch of the Great Western railway. Owing to the bar at the estuary of the Teifi, the shipping trade is inconsiderable, but there are brick-works and foundries in the town; and as the centre of a large agricultural district, Cardigan market is well attended. There is a curious local custom of mixing “culm,” a compound of clay and small coal, in the streets. The town has for the most part a modern and prosperous appearance. Two bastions with some of the curtain wall of the ancient castle remain, whilst the dwelling-house known as Castle Green contains part of a drum tower, and some vaulted chambers of the 13th century. The chancel of the Priory church of St Mary is an interesting specimen of early Perpendicular work, and the elaborate tracery of its fine east window contains some fragments of ancient stained glass. It is the only existing portion of a Benedictine house which was originally founded by Prince Rhys ap Griffith in the 12th century.
Although a Celtic settlement doubtless existed near the mouth of the Teifi from an early period, it was not until Norman times that Cardigan became a place of importance. Its castle was first erected by Roger de Montgomery about the year 1091, and throughout the 12th and 13th centuries this stronghold of Cardigan played no small part in the constant warfare between Welsh and English, either side from time to time gaining possession of the castle and the small town dependent on it. In 1136 the English army under Randolf, earl of Chester, was severely defeated by the Welsh at Crûg Mawr, now called Bank-y-Warren, a rounded hill 2 m. north-east of the town. During the latter part of the 12th century the castle became the residence of Rhys ap Griffith, prince and justiciar of South Wales (d. 1196), who kept considerable state within its walls, and entertained here in 1188 Archbishop Baldwin and Giraldus Cambrensis during their preaching of the Third Crusade. In 1284 Edward I. spent a month in the castle, settling the affairs of South Wales. This famous pile was finally taken and destroyed by the Parliamentarian Major-General Laugharne in 1645. The lordship, castle and town of Cardigan formed part of the dower bestowed on Queen Catherine of Aragon by King Henry VII. Henry VIII.’s charter of 1542 confirmed earlier privileges granted by Edward I. and other monarchs, and provided for the government of the town by a duly elected mayor, two bailiffs and a coroner. In the assizes and quarter sessions were removed hence to Lampeter, which has a more central position in the county. Cardigan was declared a parliamentary borough in 1536, but in 1885 its representation was merged in that of the county.
CARDIGANSHIRE (Ceredigion, Sîr Aberteifi), a county of South Wales, bounded N. by Merioneth, E. by Montgomery, Radnor and Brecon, S. by Carmarthen and Pembroke, and W. by Cardigan Bay of the Irish Sea. It has an area of 688 sq. m., so that it ranks fifth in size of the Welsh countries. The whole of Cardiganshire is hilly or undulating, with the exception of the great bogs of Borth and Tregaron, but the mountains generally have little grandeur in their character; Plinlimmon itself, on the boundary of the county with Montgomeryshire, in spite of its elevation of 2463 ft., being singularly deficient in boldness of outline. Of other hills, only Tregaron Mountain (1778 ft.) exceeds 1500 ft. in height. Of the rivers by far the most important is the Teifi, or Tivy, which rises above Tregaron in Llyn Teifi, one of a group of tiny lakes which are usually termed the Teifi Pools, and flows southward through the county as far as Lampeter, forming from this point onwards its southern boundary. A succession of deep pools and rushing shallows, the Teifi has from the earliest times been celebrated for the quantity and quality of its salmon, which are netted in great numbers on Cardigan Bar. Trout and sewin (a local species of sea-trout) are also plentiful, so that the Teifi is much frequented by anglers. This river is also believed to have been the last British haunt of the beaver (afangc, lost-llydan), for the slaying of which a very heavy penalty was exacted by the old royal laws of Wales. Giraldus Cambrensis, Michael Drayton, and other writers allude to this circumstance, though at what date the beaver became extinct in these waters is quite uncertain. On the Teifi may frequently be observed fishermen in coracles. Other rivers worthy of mention are the Dovey (Dyfi), separating Cardigan from Merioneth in the extreme north; the Rheidol and the Ystwyth, which rise in Plinlimmon; and the Aeron, which has its source in Llyn Eiddwen, a pool in the hilly district known as Mynydd Bach. All these streams flow westward into Cardigan Bay.
The valley of the Teifi presents many points of great beauty and interest between Llandyssul and the sea. The rapids of Henllan, the falls of Cenarth and the wooded cliffs of Coedmore constitute some of the finest scenery in South Wales. The valley of the Aeron is well wooded and fertile, while the Rheidol contains amidst striking surroundings the famous cascade spanned by the Devil’s Bridge, which is known to the Welsh as Pont-ar-Fynach (the Monks’ Bridge).
Geology.—The rocks of Cardiganshire consist of shales, slates and grits which have been folded and uptilted so that nowhere do they retain their original horizontality. They belong entirely to the Ordovician and Silurian periods; they have yielded few fossils, and much work remains to be done upon them before the stratigraphical subdivisions can be clearly defined. Many metalliferous lodes occur in the rocks, and the lead mines have long been famous; it was from the profits of his mining speculations, carried on chiefly in this county, that the celebrated Sir Hugh Myddleton was enabled to carry out his gigantic project for supplying London with water by means of the New River. Copper and zinc ores have also been obtained. Tregaron is the centre of the mining district, and the Lisburne, Goginan and Cwm Ystwyth mines are among the most important.
The slates have been worked at Devil’s Bridge, Corris, Strata Florida, Goginan, &c. Glacial drift occupies some of the lower ground, and peaty bogs are common on the mountains. A small tract of blown sand lies at the mouth of the river Dovey.
Industries.—The climate on the coast is mild and salubrious, but that of the hill country is cold, bleak and rainy. The cultivated crops consist of oats, wheat, barley, turnips and potatoes; and in the lower districts on the coast, especially in the neighbourhood of Cardigan, Aberaeron and Llanrhystyd, good crops are raised. The uplands are mostly covered by wild heathy pastures, which afford good grazing for Welsh mountain sheep and ponies. The country has long been celebrated for its breed of “Cardiganshire cobs,” for which high prices are often obtained from English dealers, who frequent the local horse fairs, especially Dalis Fair at Lampeter. Cattle, sheep, pigs, butter, oats, wool, flannel and coarse slates form the principal
