Penparcau

Penparcau
St Anne's Church, Penparcau
Penparcau is located in Ceredigion
Penparcau
Penparcau
Location within Ceredigion
Population3,122 (2011 census)[1]
OS grid referenceSN591801
Principal area
Preserved county
CountryWales
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townABERYSTWYTH
Postcode districtSY23
Dialling code01970
PoliceDyfed-Powys
FireMid and West Wales
AmbulanceWelsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Ceredigion
52°24′03″N 4°04′19″W / 52.400862°N 4.071998°W / 52.400862; -4.071998

Penparcau (Welsh pronunciation: [pɛnˈparkai̯]) is a village and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales, situated to the south of Aberystwyth.

The original village was a hamlet, but the building of extensive Art Deco style semi-detached social housing from the 1920s on transformed it. It lies in the shadow of the Celtic Iron Age hill fort of Pen Dinas, and between the sea at Tan Y Bwlch beach, the River Ystwyth and the Rheidol. Penparcau has the only UNESCO Biosphere reserve in the Dyfi Biosphere.[2] A section of the Wales Coast Path runs over Tan y Bwlch beach.

There is an Anglican church named after the Saint Anne, a Roman Catholic church named after the Welsh Martyrs, which is noted in "Architecture of Wales, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion" [3] and is home to a Lampedusa Cross,[4] as well as two Methodist chapels and a Quaker meeting house. The recently closed Tollgate pub was named after the original tollgate[5] 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 [6] run by the Woodland Trust and its own police station.[7] Other amenities have included a post office, two supermarkets, a garage, holiday park and hotel and two fish and chip shops. Until late 2007, it also had its own travel agent.

In 2008, Penparcau played a part in the transition town movement in Wales when it hosted the "Alternative Energy and Transport Festival" in Neuadd Goffa, attended by the local MP and mayor.[8] At the bottom of the valley, just below Penparcau, is a Welsh Government office building, designed to house more than 550 staff.[9][10]

  1. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Aberystwyth Penparcau Ward (W05000365)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ Lloyd, Thomas. (2006). Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. Orbach, Julian., Scourfield, Robert. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300101791. OCLC 71164002.
  4. ^ "The Lampedusa cross". British Museum. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  5. ^ Horsfall-Turner, E.R (1906) Walks and Wanderings in County Cardigan Yorks: Thomas Harrison & Sons.
  6. ^ "Coed Geufron — a Woodland Trust wood". Wt-woods.org.uk. 8 January 2010. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  7. ^ "Dyfed Powys Police | Penparcau and Llanbadarn Policing Team". Dyfed-powys.police.uk. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  8. ^ [1] Archived June 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "UK | Wales | Assembly jobs move to mid and north". BBC News. 23 February 2005. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  10. ^ "UK | Wales | Mid Wales | Assembly base could open in 2008". BBC News. 3 January 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2010.