Welsh Journals

town at this time and is an indication of the importance of the milling interests. It is also of interest to note that nine of the burgages were in the western part of the town near Mwldan brook.2* Little is known of the mill at Lampeter. In 1298-1301 the farm brought in 13s. 4d. to the Crown each year while in 1301-5 the farm was 20s. annually and the mill was controlled by Walter Malleye, constable of Cardigan castle and farmer of the mill and weir at Cenarth. Both Aberystwyth and Cardigan were centres for an extensive fishing industry in the Middle Ages. There was, however, a difference between the two towns arising from the fact that the Aberystwyth boats caught herring at sea whereas the Cardigan fishermen confined themselves to salmon fishing on the river Teifi. The fishing boats which docked in Aberystwyth were called upon to pay a barrel or meize of herrings as harbour due. The herrings were collected by the constable of the castle who either used them as food for the garrison of the castle or sold them in the town. In 1339 when the price of herrings was is. a meize the due brought in 13s., indicating that thirteen boats had used the harbour. Four years later, when the price of a meize was 2s., ten boats used the port but in 1348 the money collected indicates that twenty-three ships docked. In 1349 only fifteen boats were charged harbour dues. In the fifteenth century the payment demanded from ships using the harbour was called the pryse-mayse or the plice-meize. It was later commuted to an annual payment of £ 10s. when the right was held by a member of the Pryse family of Gogerddan and the toll came to be known as the pryse or castle mais of herrings. In the latter part of the nineteenth century the right of levying the due was exercised by the Powells of Nanteos and it was the custom for the first herrings caught in the bay to be sent to that house. The only evidence of fishing in the rivers near Aberystwyth comes from a statement made in 1343 that the toll for fishing in these rivers was worth is. annually the money was to be paid to the constable of the castle.2* The river Teifi, in addition to being an important line of communi- cation between Cardigan and Mid-Wales, was the scene of an active fishing industry. The two interests, communication and fishery, often came into conflict as the weirs necessary for fishing hindered the passage of boats on the river. Edward I, at the end of the thirteenth century, ordered the destruction of weirs at Cilgerran because boats could not pass them to bring timber and stone for the castle at Cardi- gan. When they were rebuilt in 1314 by John de Hastings, for without the weirs the valuable fisheries situated in this part of the river were lost, precautions were taken to ensure that they did not interfere with the shipping which brought oaks from the forest of Cilgerran to Cardigan. In addition, John de Hastings was to pay 20s. annually