West Coimtry Cheeses. 29 



2.— CAERPHILLY CHEESE. 



Caerphilly is a market town in the parish of Eglwysilan in 

 the county of Glamorgan, 160 miles west of London ; 7 north 

 from Cardiff ; 12 west of Newport, Monmouthshire ; 49 from 

 Bristol ; 59 from Swansea ; and G from Pontypridd. Seated 

 in a valley, with a station on the Rhymney Railway, and 

 surrounded with mountains, abounding in coal of good quality, 

 and noted from time immemorial for its market for the sale of 

 its most excellent cheese, it is a singular fact that so very 

 little should be known of its early history and its stupendous 

 fortress. The origin and name of the town and castle, and 

 by which the castle is now known, is very obscure. Many 

 attempts have been made to solve the question of the true 

 etymology of the present name. Some conjecture it to 

 proceed from one Filly, the son of a giant. Others say that it 

 derives its name from Ffilly, the son of Cenydd. Dr. Richards, 

 of Lyme Regis, in his dictionary says that Caerfeli has become 

 Caerphilly, and that it may have been built by Fell ab Dyfnwal 

 Moelmud ab Clydo, or by Fell Mawr ab Manogen, Avho died 

 B.C. 69, and left four sons — Lud (King Lud), Caswallon, Lefus 

 and Ninio. Caswallon was king when Julius Caesar landed in 

 Britain. 



Origin of Caerphilly Cheese. 



This cheese was originally sold weekly at Caerphilly, where 

 a market for it has been in existence from a period beyond 

 memory, and of which I can obtain no record. The cheese to 

 which the town gives its name was made chiefly between the 

 river Ebbw, in Monmouthshire, and the river Ely, in Glamor- 

 ganshire, in an area containing about thirty parishes, in which 

 would be found between five and six hundred small farms, 

 upon each of which are kept from six to twelve cows. The 

 cheeses weigh from five to ten pounds each, according to the 

 number of cattle kept and the quantity of milk available, and 

 are one of the principal products of these holdings. 



It is still maintained — and I believe justly so — that, owing 

 to climatic influence, combined with a suitable herbage and 

 the formation of the soil, Caerphilly cheese — or cheese con- 

 taining that agreeable flavour, easy to digest, with a thin 

 wrinkled lind, moist, rich and palatable, but still retaining the 

 valuable property of keeping if required — can only be produced 

 in Monmouthshire, say west of the river Usk, and in that 

 portion of Glamorganshire already indicated. Caerphilly 

 cheese made in these districts is of the greatest value to con- 

 sumers, who are chiefly those employed as operatives, or miners, 

 in the great iron or coal industries of Monmouthshire and 



