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Afon Cych (standard Welsh orthography: Afon Cuch) is a tributary of the River Teifi in south-west
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. 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 . 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 of Emlyn Is Cuch and Emlyn Uwch Cuch, and it today forms part of the boundary between
Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...
and
Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...
. 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 which carries the B4332 road at Abercych and has perforated
spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...
s similar to Cenarth Bridge.


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
Welsh literature Welsh literature is any literature originating from Wales or by Welsh writers: *Welsh-language literature Welsh-language literature () has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in a ...
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