Afon Cych (standard Welsh orthography: Afon Cuch) is a tributary of the River Teifi in south-west

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It is 13 km long, passes through a number of small settlements on the border between Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, and is significant in Welsh legend.

Sources

Its "official" source (although not its highest headwater) is at Blaencych .

Course

The river flows north-westwards through a deep, wooded, secluded valley, and joins the River Teifi at

Abercych Abercych (or Abercuch, ) is a small village in the community of Manordeifi, northeast Pembrokeshire in South West Wales, located approximately from the tripoint of the counties of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. The village devel ...

. Its total length is . It receives numerous small tributaries: the Sylgen, Barddi, Mamog, Dwrog and Lŵyd on the east side, and the Pedran, Cneifa and Dulas on the west side. It formed the ancient boundary between the

commotes A commote (Welsh ''cwmwd'', sometimes spelt in older documents as ''cymwd'', plural ''cymydau'', less frequently ''cymydoedd'')''Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales ...

of Emlyn Is Cuch and

Emlyn Uwch Cuch Emlyn was one of the seven cantrefi of Dyfed, an ancient district of Wales, which became part of Deheubarth in around 950. It consisted of the northern part of Dyfed bordering on the River Teifi. Its southern boundary followed the ridge of the ...

, and it today forms part of the boundary between

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

and Carmarthenshire. The river runs through the small settlements of Cwmorgan and Cwmcych, and the village of Abercych.

Bridges

The Cych is crossed by a number of bridges including (from upstream) Pont Cwmorgan, Pont Wedwst, Pont Newydd, Pont Cych at Cwmcych (built in 1737 and Grade II listed), an unnamed bridge by Bridgend, Pont Glancych and Grade II listed

Pont Treseli Pont Treseli or Pont Tre-seli is a Grade II-listed single-arch stone bridge spanning Afon Cych at Abercych, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It carries the B4332 road across the boundary between Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. Pont Treseli was also the ...

which carries the B4332 road at Abercych and has perforated spandrels similar to

Cenarth Bridge Cenarth Bridge ( cy, Pont Cenarth), also spelt Kenarth Bridge, is a three arch bridge which spans the River Teifi at Cenarth, Carmarthenshire in Wales. The bridge was built between 1785 and 1787 and designed by David Edwards, the son of William ...

History and legend

The river's name is marked (in Latin, as ''Keach flu.'') on a 1583 map of Pembrokeshire. The valley (Glyn Cuch) is well known in Literature of Wales (Welsh language) as the place where, in the Mabinogi, Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed has his fateful meeting with Arawn, Lord of the Underworld. Boundary streams were often thought of as portals to the underworld.

References

External links

{{Authority control Rivers of Carmarthenshire Rivers of Pembrokeshire