River Aeron facts for kids
Quick facts for kids River Aeron |
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The Aeron at Aberaeron
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| Native name | Afon Aeron |
| Country | Wales |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Main source | Llyn Eiddwen 52°16′58.8″N 4°2′38.4″W / 52.283000°N 4.044000°W |
| River mouth | Aberaeron 52°14′36.52″N 4°15′52.24″W / 52.2434778°N 4.2645111°W |
The River Aeron (Welsh: Afon Aeron) is a small river in Ceredigion, Wales, that flows into Cardigan Bay at Aberaeron. It is also referred to on some older maps as the River Ayron.
Etymology
The name of the river means "battle" or "slaughter" and derives from the Middle Welsh aer with the same meaning. Aeron is believed to have been a Welsh god of war. Past interpretations of the name have included that of William Owen Pughe, who in his Dictionary of the Welsh Language believed Aeron meant "queen of brightness".
Literary tradition
Dylan Thomas lived near the banks of the river in the 1940s, at a secluded mansion called Plas Gelli, just outside Talsarn. He called the Aeron valley "the most precious place in the world." The Dylan Thomas Trail follows the river from Talsarn to Aberaeron.
Talsarn was the centre for a thriving group of poets who lived in and around the Aeron valley, such as John Jenkins (Cerngoch), Dan Jenkins Pentrefelin (1856-1946) and Dinah Davies (1851-1931). There are still poets in the valley today, including Ciliau Aeron poet, Stevie Krayer, who has written a sequence of poems about the river.
Although the Aeron has suffered from intermittent pollution including some severe incidents in the 1970s caused by creamery waste and crude sewage escapes in the Felinfach area, the principal impacts are now diffuse agricultural waste, pesticides from agriculture and acidification especially from upland forestry plantations.
