Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CAERLEON

CAERLEON, a small town and a subdistrict in Newport district, Monmouth. The town is in the parish of Llangattock; and stands on the river Usk, 1¾ mile N of the South Wales railway, and 2½ NE of Newport. It was the Roman Isca Silurum and Isca Colonia, and the capital of Britannia Secunda. Akeman-street went from it to Caerwent and Bath; the maritime Julian way, to Neath and St. Davids; and the mountain Julian way, to Abergavenny, with a branch to Monmouth. The Roman city included a great fortress; and is said to have been superbly built, and about 9 miles in circuit. A British city succeeded the Roman one; and was the capital of the Welsh princes who styled themselves kings of Gwent and lords of Caerleon. The court of King Arthur was held here; and a castle was built at the Conquest, and captured by Edward I. Christianity also made a figure here, both in pristine struggles with paganism, and in erecting establishments. Martyrs were slain; a monastery was founded at an early period, and succeeded by an Abbey before the time of King John; and a bishop's see was constituted by Dubricius, the opponent of the Arians, and removed by his successor David to Meneira, which then took the name of St. Davids.

The ruins of Caerleon were long very grand. Giraldus Cambrensis, writing more than seven centuries after the Romans left it, says:-"Many remains of its former magnificence are still visible; splendid palaces which once emulated with their gilded roofs the grandeur of Rome, for it was originally built by the Roman princes, and adorned with stately edifices; a gigantic tower, numerous baths, ruins of temples, and a theatre, the walls of which are partly standing. Here we still see, within and without the walls, subterraneous buildings, aqueducts, and vaulted caverns; and what appeared to me most remarkable, stoves so excellently contrived as to diffuse their heat through secret and imperceptible pores." The buildings have now nearly all perished; but very numerous small relics have been preserved, and some great substructions and mounds remain. A work published by Mr. John E. Lee in 1845 figures the antiquities in twenty-seven engravings; and a local museum, erected by the Caerleon Antiquarian Association, has a rich collection of the relics. The chief large remaining works are fragments of the walls of the Roman fortress, 12 feet thick and 1,800 yards in circuit; an oval bank of earth, the vestige of the Roman amphitheatre, 16 feet high and 222 feet by 192; an artificial mound, of doubtful character, 90 feet high and 300 yards round at the base; remains of the castle overhanging the Usk; ruins near the bridge; and a round tower near the old fashioned inn, the Hanbury Arms. An old tradition regards the amphitheatre as the festival scene of King Arthur and his knights; popular nomenclature calls it King Arthur s Round Table; and the Welsh bards have sung—

How he first ordain'd the circled board,
The knights whose martial deeds far-famed that table round
Which truest in their loves, which most in arms renowned:
The laws which long upheld that Order, they report:
The Pentecosts prepar'd at Caerleon in her court;
That table's ancient seat; her temples and her groves,
Her palaces, her walls, baths, theatres, and stoves.

The town now consists chiefly of two streets. Most of the houses are old; and many of them are partly constructed with Roman bricks. The bridge is a handsome modern structure, in room of a curious old wooden one. The market house is an ancient weather-worn edifice, with four gigantic Tuscan pillars. The church is a handsome Norman edifice; and there are chapels for Independents, Baptists, and Wesleyans, and a free school. The town has a post office‡ under Newport, Monmouth; and is a seat of petty sessions. Markets are hold on Thursdays; and fairs on the third Wednesday of Feb., 1 May, 20 July, and 21 Sept. There are extensive tinworks. Pop., 1,268. Houses, 254. The subdistrict contains sixteen parishes and part of another. Acres, 51,398. Pop., 7,615. Houses, 1,548.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town and a subdistrict"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Newport RegD/PLU       Monmouthshire AncC
Place: Caerleon

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