Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Aberystwyth. You may be able to find further references to Aberystwyth in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Aberystwith municipal borough, township, seaport, and watering-place Bartholomew
Aberystwith a town, a chapelry, a subdistrict, and a district Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Aberystwyth within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
George Borrow The Plynlimmon Range 3
William Camden Rest of Wales 2
William Gilpin To the source of the Wye 2
George Borrow Upon Plynlimmon 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 6, Part 3: Worcester, Hereford and Wales 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 2: Dundee, Aberdeen and the Highlands 1
John Wesley 1763-4: In Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; "No Law for Methodists"; Exhausting Days 1
Arthur Young 1776 Tour of South Wales and South Midlands 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Isandre 0 2
Llanbadarn Fawr 1 2
Uchandre 0 2
Faenor Isaf 0 2
Upper Vaenor 0 1
Llangorwen 0 2
Llanbadarn Y Creuddyn 0 2
Clarach 0 2
Llandychaearn 0 2
Bow Street 0 2
Broncastellan 0 2
Penrhyn Coch 0 2
Rhyd Y Pennau 0 2
Cyfoethybrenin 0 2
Bangor 0 2
Llanfihangel Geneur Glynn 0 2
Carrog 0 2
Llanilar 0 2
Cynnull Mawr 0 2
Borth 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Aberystwyth. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
ABERESTYWITH Arthur Young Tours in England and Wales, selected from the Annals of Agriculture (London: London School of Economics, 1932).
ABERISTWITH Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
ABER Y STWITH William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ABERYSTWITH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Wesley The Journal of John Wesley (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2000).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
ABER YSTWYTH George Borrow Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery (Oxford, Mississippi, 1996).
ABRYSTWYTH Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
ABYRYSTHWICK William Gilpin Observations of the River Wye, and several parts of South Wales (London: Cadell Junior and W. Davies, 1800).
Y STWITH MOUTH William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.