Ceredigion from Cardigan, between five and six thousand leaving the town between 1790 and 1860. Aberystwyth became the main centre for the export of lead and Aberaeron and Newquay did brisk coastal trade. The building of the railway from Shrewsbury in the 1860s encouraged visitors and hotels sprang up in the town to accommodate them. This area of the county of Dyfed became a district of Wales under the name Ceredigion in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, and since 1996, has formed the county of Ceredigion. According to the 2001 census, Ceredigion has the fourth highest proportion of Welsh
Cardigan, Ceredigion works sympathetically restoring many of the shop facades in the town centre. The quayside has been rebuilt with a new civic area and landing stage. Cardigan was named one of the best places to live in Wales in 2017. The town has a hospital, college, modern arts centre (with three-screen cinema), theatre and recently refurbished 19th century guildhall housing market stalls; for shopping there are supermarkets and town centre shops and several trading estates. Cardigan's college, "Coleg Ceredigion", is located north of the town centre and educates 700 full-time and 2,000 part-time students in both Welsh and English languages, and