Moylegrove

Moylegrove

The pretty little village of Moylegrove, the centre of which is made up of a tumble of traditional painted cottages, grey stone chapels and two stone river bridges, lies on the unspoiled North Pembrokeshire coast 6 miles south of the small historic market town of Cardigan on the river Teifi.

Within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, it lies at the confluence of two small rivers, (the principle of which is the Awen, which appropriately means to muse or contemplate) at the base of a delightful wooded valley that leads to the National Trust owned Ceibwr Bay just 15 minutes walk away. The Bay, parts of which are designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest, is much treasured as the village beach and valued as a great environmental and geological asset.

Discover more about Moylegrove village and the surrounding area from the village web site

Moylegrove is connected to Fishguard, Cardigan and the surrounding villages by the coastal bus service 405: Poppit Rocket

There is a Neolithic burial chamber known as “Llech y Dribedd” which translates to “Tripod Stone”. built around 3-4000 B.C., situated near Penlan Farm and two Iron Age coastal promontory forts, Pencastell and Castell Treruffydd, can be found in the area.

The church was described in 1291 as “Ecclesia de Grava Matilda”   Since then records show that it has been rebuilt several times. The current church was built in 1866 and contains a stone bearing the date 1619 in the west wall.

There were nine Public Houses in Moylegrove during the nineteenth century. Two of these were at Ceibwr.

At Ceibwr small flat bottomed boats carrying cargos of Limestone and Culm would come in at high tide, as the tide went out the boats would be left on the shore for frantic unloading of their cargo into waiting horse drawn carts. The Limestone was converted in the Lime Kiln to burnt lime for spreading on the land to improve the soil. There were two kilns, but only one remains now. Culm, a mixture of coal dust and clay, was brought from Swansea as a low cost fuel.

Smuggling of French cognac at Ceibwr was said to be the “last invasion” of this country.

Improved transport at the end of the nineteenth century, led to the demise of Ceibwr as a port. The last ship arrived in 1926, large numbers turned up to witness the end of an era. The railway at Cardigan brought prepared lime and coal, Motor vehicles soon became popular for haulage, and although it is said that early models were slower than a horse and cart. The pubs soon closed with the New Inn hanging on until 1904.

Activities

This is the remotest part of The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. This section of the Coast Path can be quite challenging. If you’ve opted to walk the whole of the Coast Path and are starting from the Poppit end, you might not want to go all the way to Newport on your first day!

The Coast Path around Cemaes and Ceibwr are truly spectacular though. The remote beaches below Cemaes are where dozens of grey seals choose to give birth to their pups in the Autumn and the convoluted rock strata around Ceibwr is very interesting, especially at The Witches Cauldron, a short distance west of Ceibwr.

Food and drink

Penrallt Garden Centre is just outside the village and has woodland walks, access to the Coast Path and a licensed cafe serving lunches and afternoon tea.

Accommodation

The nearest hotels are in Cardigan but there is an Inn in nearby Felindre Farchog. There are a couple of B&Bs in Moylegrove. A camp site and touring caravan site are available at Cemaes Head near Poppit. There is a holiday park with camping facilities at Llwyngwair Manor on the way to Newport or at Poppit Sands near Cardigan. There are numerous self catering cottages throughout this part of Pembrokeshire including a self catering complex and a cottage agency in Moylegrove itself. There’s a youth hostel at Poppit.