One might ask why this wonder is so far from the others in South Wales, which are largely around the Severn. Cardigan was plainly a strategic spot, the Brut Y Tywysogion* for 1200 describes it as ...Aberteivi, the key to all Wales... (as Williams ap Ithel's version conflates several manuscripts it is not obvious which version of the Brut this appears in, but it is not in Peniarth 20*). This importance is likely to have been the case even before the Norman castle was built there in 1093, as the west coast of Wales provides one of the few lowland routes from South to North Wales, as well as routes to Eire.