CAERLEON -CAERNARVONSHIRE. 



769 



cularly rich lace, with stockings, caps, paper hang- 

 ings, and oil, are the principal articles of manufacture. 

 A sugar refinery lias lately been established, in which 

 a steam-engine is employed. A large fair is held 

 here annually, and an exhibition of the manufactures 

 of the department biennially. Malherbe, De La- 

 place, and Vauquelin, were born in this city or in its 

 vicinity. It is 132 miles N. \V. of Paris. Lon. 

 2& 58" W. ; lat. 49 11' 12'' N. 



CAERLEON ; a small town in Monmouthshire, twenty- 

 six miles from Bristol, on the Usk, in which the tide 

 rises thirty feet. (See Bristol Channel.) It was the 

 site of the Isca Silurum, the chief Roman station in 

 the country of the Silures. The ruins of baths, 

 temples, and a theatre, were to be seen here in the 

 twelfth century ; and Roman coins, statues, and se- 

 pulchral monuments, are yet found. There are also 

 the vestiges of an amphitheatre, which the inhabitants 

 call king Arthur's round table, from a tradition that 

 he instituted the round table in this place. Popula- 

 tion, in 1831,1,071. 



CAERLAVEROCK ; a parish in Dumfries-shire, render- 

 ed a kind of peninsula by the river Nith, Lochar- 

 Water, and the Solway frith. It contains about 4,553 

 acres, and the two small harbours of Keltown and 

 Olencaple, where vessels of eighty or ninety tons 

 burden may unload. The middle and the western 

 parts are hilly, with occasional spots of wet, moorish, 

 and shallow soil ; the high land is light, dry, and 

 fertile. The greater part of the arable land is in- 

 closed and cultivated. The substratum of nearly the 

 whole parish is composed of red free-stone, which is 

 quarried in various parts. The living is hi the pres- 

 bytery and synod of Dumfries ; patron, the miirquis 

 of Queensberry. Dr Hutton, physician to king Wil- 

 liam and queen Mary, bequeathed 1000 for the 

 benefit of the poor of this parish, which was laid out 

 in the purchase of an estate. Near the mouth of the 

 Nith, are the vestiges of a moated triangular castle, 

 supposed to be the Carbuntorigura of Ptolemy ; and 

 to the northeast of these ruins are the remains of the 

 castle of Carlaverock, long the residence of the ba- 

 ronial family of Maxwell, to whom the parish still 

 Irelongs. It was taken by Cromwell in 1651, and 

 has since been allowed to go to decay. Here are 

 also the remains of a Roman encampment. 



CAERMARTHEN ; the chief town of Caermarthenshire, 

 South Wales. It is situated on the Towy, the pic- 

 turesque beauties of the vale of which are seen to 

 great advantage from the celebrated Grongar hill and 

 the ruins of Dynevor castle. The streets are, many 

 of them, steep and irregular. The river is navigable 

 for vessels of 300 tons burden. In the history of 

 romance, C. is famed as the birthplace of Merlin, and 

 three miles from the town is a spot called Merlin's 

 grove, in which tradition relates that the Lady of the 

 Lake intombed the unhappy magician (Faerie Queen, 

 iii. 3). Merlin's chair, from wnich he uttered his 

 prophecies, is also shown. Roman roads, coins, and 

 sepulchral antiquities, are found in the neighbourhood. 

 About eight miles from the town there is an immense 

 cairn, eighteen feet high and a hundred and fifty in 

 circuit, covered with turf. The top is hollow, with a 

 stone chest in it, covered with an oval stone nine feet 

 long. Between the Tcwy and the Cowen there is a 

 barrow with a stone chest in it. C. is 212 miles west 

 from London. Pop. in 1821, 8,906 ; in 1831, 9,995. 



CAERMARTHENSHIRF; a county in South Wales, an- 

 ciently called Dimetia, bounded on the north by Car- 

 diganshire, on the east by Breconshire, on the west 

 by Pembrokeshire, and on the south by Glamorgan- 

 shire, and by the sea. The surface generally is hilly, 

 in some places mountainous. The vales are narrow, 

 and the hills rise abruptly from the skirts of the smali 

 valleys, with which this county is almost everywhere 



intersected. The principal level tracts are the Vale 

 of Towy, twenty miles in length by three in breadth, 

 and the plain of Llaugharne, which was reclaimed 

 from the sea. The principal rivers are the Towy, 

 Cothy, Dylas, Gwilly, Amman, and Lloughur, all of 

 them abounding in fish. This county produces lead, 

 iron, coal, and limestone ; black cattle are reared on 

 the hills ; butter, for exportation, made in the valleys ; 

 barley and oats raised for the Bristol market, but 

 very little wheat. From Llanelly, coal and tinned 

 iron plates are exported, and from Kidwelly coals 

 are also forwarded, being conveyed thither by 

 canal from the pits. Woollen stockings are manu- 

 factured at Llandovery ; and a little to the north of 

 this town are the most valuable lead mines in the 

 county. The chief towns are, Caermarthen, a borough, 

 Llandovery, Kidwelly, Llandilovawr, Llanelly, Llan- 

 dybie, Newcastle Emlyn, and St Clear's. Roman 

 antiquities are frequently discovered in various parts 

 of the county. A Roman road exists at Llandovery, 

 and coins of that great nation have been found near 

 to Whitland. There are sepulchral antiquities be- 

 longing to both Romans and Britons in the parish of 

 Llanegwad. The independency of Wales, as a state, 

 was terminated near Llandilovawr in this county, 

 where was fought the last battle for native dominion, 

 between the forces of Edward I. and Llewellyn, prince 

 of Wales. Population of the county in 1831, 100,655. 



CAERNARVON ; the principal town of North Wales, 

 stands on the Menai strait, with a good harbour, but 

 difficult of access. It is built in the form of a square, 

 enclosed on three sides with walls. Edward I. built 

 it in 1282, and his son, Edward II., first prince of 

 Wales, was born here. C. stands near the site of the 

 ancient Segontium of Antoninus, the Caer Seiont of 

 the Britons. Being formerly a stronghold, it was 

 frequently attacked in the wars between the Welsh 

 and English, and in the civil wars. Distant 235 

 miles N. W. from London. Population, 7,642. 



CAERNARVONSHIRE ; one of the six coiinties of North 

 Wales, and the most mountainous in the principality. 

 It contains the Snowdonian chain of mountains, the 

 highest of which Y Wyddffa, or Snowdon, is 3,759 

 feet above the level of the sea. The entire of the 

 Caernarvon mountains are composed of clay slate of 

 secondary formation, containing copper, as at Llan- 

 berris, Nantle, Poole, and Beddgelart ; lead in vari- 

 ous places, and pure slate as at Llandegai, Llanberris, 

 Llanilyffin, and many other districts. The principal 

 rivers are the Conway, navigable to the village of 

 Trefriw, the Ogwen, the Seiont, the Llugwy, and the 

 Colwyn, which are fed from about fifty lakes or pools. 

 Of these the lakes at Nantberris and Nant-gwynant 

 are the most beautiful. This county is rather of a 

 mining than of an agricultural character, although 

 many black cattle are driven into England. The 

 chief towns are Caernarvon, Bangor city, Pwllheli, 

 Conway, and Nevin. Although the surface of Caer- 

 narvonshire is almost exclusively mountainous, yet 

 the improvements that have been made, and are in 

 daily progress here, greatly exceed those of any other 

 county in North Wales. The erection of the suspen- 

 sion bridge across the Menai has connected this 

 county with Anglesey, a great agricultural district, 

 while the bridge at Conway has opened a communi- 

 cation with Denbigh, and the construction of the 

 parliamentary road, through the wildest tracts, has 

 actually imparted a value to those hrights. The ter- 

 rors of Penmaen-Mawr have been removed by the 

 formation of a level road along the shore at its base, 

 and the introduction of railroads at Llanberris, Llan- 

 degai, and Caernarvon, has contributed to bring in 

 wealth and afford employment. The landed pro- 

 prietors have latterly directed much attention to 

 planting. Amongst the interesting remains existing 



