Cardigan Heritage Centre

Hanes Aberteifi is a charitable organisation registered with the Civic Trust and the Civic Trust for Wales. It had for some time been looking for the premises in which to establish a Heritage Centre, and in 1996 acquired the lease of the ground floor of this 18th century warehouse.

After many months of hard work, with local tradesmen and members of Hanes Aberteifi giving their time and skills freely, the Heritage Centre was opened in June 1997 by the local member of Parliament Cynog Dafis.

The Heritage Centre is run by a small management team who report to the executive of Hanes Aberteifi. An exhibition sub-committee masterminds all temporary exhibitions and the centre manager supervises these and provides a season long programme of Living History events, fundraisers and craft workshops.

During the height of the summer season more volunteers come in to help the manager, again all giving their time freely and cheerfully! Without this generosity the organisation could not exist, as we do not receive any external funding. It is for this reason that regrettably we do have to charge for entrance to the exhibition.

Cardigan Heritage Centre is housed in a grade 2 listed building. It was erected in 1745 and subsequently bought by the Davies brothers in 1785. They were heavily involved in the export of slate and the import of limestone. Seven lime kilns were built at the rear of the building.

Later one of the warehouse's main uses was as a sail making loft which was established upstairs. As the town and port of Cardigan prospered so did the brothers, their magnificent home overlooked the Heritage Centre, and its now the Grosvenor hotel. However as the fortunes of the port declined the warehouse gradually became redundant.

On show at the Centre are artefacts and information on the history of Cardigan from Norman times to the present day and all you need know about Cardigan Castle.

General Information: