Caerleon - johnelamper - X.jpg

Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress, Isca Augusta, and an Iron Age hillfort. Close to the remains of Isca Augusta are the National Roman Legion Museum and the Roman Baths Museum. The town also has strong historical and literary associations: Geoffrey of Monmouth elevated the significance of Caerleon as a major centre of British history in his ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (c. 1136), and Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote '' Idylls of the King'' (1859–1885) while staying in Caerleon.

History

Pre-Roman history

The area around Caerleon is of considerable archaeological interest with a number of important Neolithic sites. By the Iron age, the area was home to the powerful Silures tribe and appears to have been the centre of a wealthy trading network, both manufacturing and importing La Tène style goods. Since the fifth century BC, the town was the location of a great Iron Age hillfort crowning a hill overlooking the Usk and what would become the Roman port. The Hillfort at Lodge Wood Camp is defended by three lines of massive ramparts and ditches and is the largest fortified enclosure in South Wales.

The excavation in 2000 found that the hillfort had been continuously occupied from its founding in the fifth century BC until the construction and occupation of Isca Augusta around 78AD. There is no evidence that the fort was taken militarily and the abandoning of the fort may have been part of the terms of peace. The fort was reoccupied during the Roman period and remained in use following the end of Roman rule in Britain, suggesting some version of the Pre-Roman society survived the occupation.

Roman Era

Caerleon is a site of considerable archaeological importance as the location of a Roman legionary fortress or '' castra''. It was the headquarters for Legio II Augusta from about 75 to 300 AD, and on the hill above was the site of an Iron Age hillfort.
The Romans called the site ''Isca'' after the River Usk (Welsh ''Wysg''). The name ''Caerleon'' may derive from the Welsh for "fortress of the legion"; around 800 AD it was referred to as ''Cair Legeion guar Uisc''.

Substantial excavated Roman remains can be seen, including the military amphitheatre, ''thermae'' (baths) and barracks occupied by the Roman Legion. In August 2011 the remains of a Roman harbour were discovered in Caerleon. According to Gildas, followed by Bede, Roman Caerleon was the site of two early Christian martyrdoms, those of Julius and Aaron. Recent finds suggest Roman occupation of some kind as late as AD 380. Roman remains have also been discovered at The Mynde, itself a distinctive historical site.

Middle Ages

Caerleon remained an important administrative and religious centre for the Kingdom of Gwent, and was an early Metropolitan See associated with Saint Dubricius (who is commonly depicted with two crosiers, signifying the Bishoprics of Caerleon and Llandaff).Toke, Leslie. "St. Dubric." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 14 April 2015
/ref> At the Synod of Brefi in 545AD, Dubricius is said to have given the See of Caerleon to Saint David, who would later move the seat to '' Mynyw''. Caerleon was also the location of the Synod of Victory, officiated by Saint David around 569AD.

Another medieval saint, Cadoc is associated with the church built over the ''principia'' (legionary headquarters). Saint Cadoc's Church, is one of many churches associated with Cadoc's travels, and may have been the location of a monastic cell in the sixth century.

Norman era

A Norman-style motte and bailey castle was built outside the eastern corner of the old Roman fort, possibly by the Welsh Lord of Caerleon, Caradog ap Gruffydd. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded that a small colony of eight carucates of land (about 1.5 square miles) in the jurisdiction of Caerleon, seemingly just within the Welsh Lordship of Gwynllwg, was held by Turstin FitzRolf, standard bearer to William the Conqueror at Hastings, subject to William d'Ecouis, a magnate of unknown antecedents with lands in Hereford, Norfolk and other counties. Also listed on the manor were three Welshmen with as many ploughs and carucates, who continued their Welsh customs (''leges Walensi viventes''). Caerleon itself may have remained in Welsh hands, or may have changed hands frequently.

From the apparent banishment of Turstin by William II, Turstin's lands were transferred in 1088 by Wynebald de Ballon, brother of Hamelin de Ballon who held Abergavenny further up the River Usk. At about the same time as Wynebald's lands may have passed via his daughter to Henry Newmarch, possible illegitimate son of Bernard de Newmarch, c. 1155 the Welsh Lord of Caerleon, Morgan ab Owain, grandson of King Caradog ap Gruffudd, was recognized by Henry II. Subsequently, Caerleon continued in Welsh hands, subject to occasional battles with the Normans. Caerleon was an important market and port and possibly became a borough by 1171, although no independent charters exist. In 1171 Iorwerth ab Owain and his two sons destroyed the town of Caerleon and burned the Castle. Both castle and borough were seized by William Marshal from Morgan ap Hywel in 1217 and Caerleon castle was rebuilt in stone. The remains of many of the old Roman buildings stood to some height until this time and were probably demolished for their building materials.

Glyndŵr Rising

During the Glyndŵr Rising in 1402 Rhys Gethin, General for Owain Glyndŵr, took Caerleon Castle together with those of Newport, Cardiff, Llandaff, Abergavenny, Caerphilly and Usk by force. This was probably the last time Caerleon castle was ruined, though the walls were still standing in 1537 and the castle ruins only finally collapsed in 1739 - their most obvious remnant is the Round Tower at the Hanbury Arms public house. The Tower is a Grade II* listed building.

English Civil War

Across the Afon Lwyd from Caerleon, in the region of Penrhos Farm, are two Civil War forts. In 1648 Oliver Cromwell's troops camped overnight on Christchurch Hill, overlooking Newport, before their attack on Newport Castle the next day.

18th and 19th centuries

The old wooden bridge was destroyed in a storm in 1779 and the present stone bridge was erected in the early 19th century. Until the Victorian development of the downstream docks at Newport Docks, Caerleon acted as the major port on the River Usk. The wharf was located on the right bank, to the west of today's river bridge which marked the limit of navigability for masted ships. A tinplate works and mills were established on the outskirts of the town, in Ponthir, around this time, and Caerleon expanded to become almost joined to Newport.

A plaque on the Mynde wall in High Street references the Newport Rising of 1839 in which John Frost of Newport was a prominent figure in the Chartist movement. John Jenkins, owner of Mynde House and owner of Ponthir Tinplate Works, built the wall to keep demonstrators out.

The name of the former Drovers' Arms on Goldcroft Common bore witness to the ancient drovers' road on the old road from Malpas. It is thought that the common itself was once the site of a cattle market.

Modern histories

An informative and wide-ranging history of Caerleon was published in 1970 by local amateur historian Primrose Hockey MBE, who was a founder member of Caerleon Local History Society. An archive of her local history collection is kept by the Gwent Record Office.

In Welsh mythology and literature

Welsh mythology

Caerleon features frequently in various works connected with Welsh mythology and Medieval Welsh literature.

In book three of his '' Historia Regum Britanniæ'', Geoffrey of Monmouth, gives the founder of the city as Belinus, the mythical King of the Britons. According to Geoffrey, Belinus repaired and founded many cities during a period of great wealth, he named this city "''Caerosc''" (Caer