Aberaeron

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About Aberaeron

Aberaeron is a planned harbour town on the Ceredigion coast of mid-Wales, famous for the pastel colours of its Georgian houses and its squares laid out around the harbour. It is one of the most distinctive towns on the Ceredigion coast, with a working harbour, a pebble beach and a colony of bottlenose dolphins offshore.

The story of Aberaeron

Aberaeron was planned and built in the early 19th century by the Rev. Alban Thomas Jones Gwynne, who inherited the estate in 1799 and began laying out the town in 1807; the harbour was constructed between 1807 and 1816 to serve the coastal trade in lead, slate and herrings. The town's elegant Regency terraces and squares, with their pastel-painted fronts, were laid out around the harbour on a grid plan that was unusual for rural Wales, and many of the houses are now listed buildings. The Cardigan Bay herring fishery supported Aberaeron in the 19th century, with scores of boats landing their catch at the quays before the shoals declined by the early 20th century. The bottlenose dolphins of Cardigan Bay, one of only two resident populations in Britain, are regularly seen from the harbour and the Wales Coast Path.

Visiting with care

Walk the grid of pastel squares down to the harbour, and try the locally famous honey ice cream from The Hive. Book a dolphin-watching boat from nearby New Quay, and follow the Wales Coast Path either way along the cliffs.

Interesting facts

• Aberaeron was planned from 1807 by the Rev. Alban Thomas Jones Gwynne, with the harbour built 1807-1816.
• The town's Regency squares and pastel fronts are laid out on a grid plan rare in rural Wales.
• The Cardigan Bay herring fishery supported the town in the 19th century.
• Cardigan Bay is home to one of only two resident bottlenose dolphin populations in Britain.