Dyfed
Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed was also the name of the area's county council and the name remains in use for certain ceremonial and other purposes. Etymology The name Dyfed is an ancient one, deriving form the Demetae (the Iron Age tribe that inhabited the area), with this tribal name deriving from a Celtic element related to the Welsh language word defaid (sheep) as well as the Ancient British word defod (wealth, property or riches). This suggests that the area that became Dyfed was noted for the cultivation of sheep from ancient times, and that this was associated with great wealth. The name persisted in the post-Roman Kingdom of Dyfed (clearly a continuation of this Pre-Roman etymon) and even survived the Norman conquest of Wales and the introduction of the Shire system, with Thomas Morgan noting that the Welsh inhabitants of Pembrokeshire still referred to the area as Dyfed in the nineteenth century. History Dyfed is a preserved county of Wales. It was originally created as an administrative county council on 1 April 1974 under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972, and covered approximately the same geographic extent as the ancient Principality of Deheubarth, although excluding the Gower Peninsula and the area west of the River Tawe. Dyfed County Council was abolished on 1 April 1996, when the three historic counties were reinstated for administrative purposes with Cardiganshire being renamed Ceredigion on the following day. The name "Dyfed" remains used for some ceremonial and administrative purposes. Headquarters The administrative headquarters of Dyfed County Council was Carmarthen, whilst the largest settlement was Llanelli. Other significant centres of population included Haverfordwest, Milford Haven and Aberystwyth. Continued use of name The name Dyfed was retained for such purely ceremonial purposes as the Lord Lieutenancy and in the name of some regional bodies such as Dyfed–Powys Police, Dyfed Telecom, and Dyfed Digital but some databases, including that of Royal Mail, continued its use at least until 2008, causing confusion in online commerce. Geography Dyfed has a long coast on the Irish Sea to the west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It is bounded by the preserved counties of Gwynedd to the north, Powys to the east and West Glamorgan to the southeast. Ceredigion, the northernmost part of Dyfed, has a narrow coastal strip and the Cambrian Mountains cover much of the east of the county. The highest point is Plynlimon at , on the slopes of which five rivers have their sources: the Severn, the Wye, the Dulas, the Llyfnant and the Rheidol, the first two of which flow eastwards into England and the last three of which flow westwards to the Irish Sea. Further south in Ceredigion the land is less mountainous, and the River Teifi forms the border with Carmarthenshire for part of its length. Carmarthenshire, the southeastern part of Dyfed, is