ANTIQUITIES. 



877 



numbers in their retreat. Others 

 of the defeated army fled from their 

 pursuers into England ; while such 

 of the Normans as had been able to 

 secure themselves in their cabtles, 

 granted, as they termed it, butmory 

 properly restored to the Welsh, their 

 ancient laws and immunities, with 

 their lands in free tenure. 



The continuator of Caradoc Lhan- 

 carvan informs us, that in the year 

 1217, Rees Vechan, prince of South 

 Wales, took tliis castle, but it is not 

 mentioned from whom : the garrir 

 son, however, to impede his operar 

 tions,from the success of which they 

 dreaded summary punishment, burnt 

 the town. Hence there appears to 

 be some truth in the tradition at 

 Caerphilly, that the town was for- 

 merly much larger than it is now; 

 but that in early times it had been 

 burnt, during a siege of the castle. 

 They will shew in the fields and 

 other vicinities of the town, many 

 ancient foundations, with various 

 Tesfiges of buildings; and so lately 

 as the year 1802, in digging founda- 

 tions for a new .'"ulling mill and other 

 Morks, destined tor the purpose of 

 a woollen manufactory, in addition 

 to those which are already establish, 

 cd tlii're, some very strong old foun- 

 dations were discovered, with seve- 

 ral pieces of oak tiniber, some of 

 them partly burnt, a great number 

 of old nails, and other remains, that 

 conlirmed the traditional relation. 

 These discoveries we?e made nearly 

 a quarter of a mile out of the pre- 

 sent small (own. It is mentioned 

 jn the annals of the same jear, that 

 Lhcwilin a|) Jorwurth, prince of 

 North \\ ales; (i uenvvynwyn, prince 

 of Powise, son of Owen Cy-veiliog, 

 ?iid Ries Vechan, prince of South 

 ^V ales, confederated to destroy the 

 ; fastlcs of the Normans and jclni^lish;^ 



in Wales, and among others, they 

 took the castle, which is the subject 

 of the present remarks. But whe- 

 ther we are to understand, that these 

 two accounts refer to the same event, 

 and that the reduction of this castle 

 was allotted to Rees Vechan, in the 

 arrangement of their concerted oper- 

 ations ; or that he lost it again, and 

 that the allies immediately combined 

 their forces to recover it, is neither 

 easy nor important to ascertain. In 

 the year 1218, Lhewelin ap Jor- 

 werth is represented as having taken 

 tbis castle once more from Reynald 

 de Bruse, lord of Brecknock, and 

 having then consigned it to the cus- 

 tody of Rees, prince of SouthWales. 

 Rees soon afterwards rased it to the 

 ground. In 1219, John de Bruse, 

 son of W^illiam de Bruse, married 

 Margaret, daughter of Lhewelin ap 

 Jorwerth, prince of North Wales. 

 In 1221, John de Bruse rebuilt and 

 fortified this castle, with the per- 

 mission and by the advice of his 

 father-in-law, priocc Lhewelin ap 

 Jorwerth, In the year 1270, Lhew- 

 elin ap Gruffyth ap Jorwerth, the 

 last prince of North Wales, took 

 the castle of Caerphilly. This is the 

 first time it is called by the name of 

 Caerphilly in the Welsh history. It 

 was, in earlier times, denominated 

 from the founder of the monastery 

 on the site of which, after its demo- 

 lition, the castle was rebuilt. This 

 in also the last time it is mentioned 

 at all in the continuation of Cara- 

 doc, iioni which these particulars 

 are taken. But there is a more 

 correct and ampler continuation of 

 Caradoc extant, which is not at pre- 

 sent put to the press. It is strongly 

 suspected, that there are some con- 

 siderablt; errors, or at least deficien- 

 cies in all the copies, hitherto pub., 

 ^bhed. 



It 



