ygZ CAR 
over the river, and velfels of 200 tons burthen can come 
up to the town. The view is beautifully diverfified by 
well-cultivated hills on the eaft, weft, and north ; and the 
Severn Sea, or Briftol Channel, on the fouth; Between the 
town and the Severn is a fine level trait of moor-land, 
great part of which Was fubjedl to be overflowed by fpring 
tides, but is now well fecured by a fea-wall, which has 
turned an extenfive piece of fait tnarfii into arable land. 
The harbour, three miles below the town, is called Pen- 
narth, or the Bear’s Head, and is very commodious for 
Ihips and velfels detained in the Briftol Channel by wef- 
terly winds. This town and neighbourhood carry on a 
■confideruble trade to Briftol ; and fend not lefs than 8780 
tons of caft- and wrought iron annually to London and 
other places, the bulk of which is made at Merthyr-Tydfil, 
and brought down froth thence by a navigable canal. 
No lefs than 13,000 boxes annually, of the very belt tin 
plates, containing in general 225 plates in each box, art 
alfo lent from this town to Briftol. Cardiff con ft fts of two 
.pariflies,, viz. St. John’s and St. Mary’s, though at pre¬ 
fent there is but one church; for, by a great inundation 
of the fea, on the 27th of January, 1607, the church of 
St. Mary, with many buildings in that pari fit, were under¬ 
mined and fwept away. Here is an ancient,caflle, which 
a large, ftrong, (lately, edifice, and lias lately received 
great alterations and additions from its prefent proprietor, 
'fhe conllable of it is always chief magiftrate of the town, 
which has been for ages the relidence of princes, the (eat 
of government and judicature, and the fcene of many re¬ 
markable actions and events. Jn the long lift of the an¬ 
cient princes of Glamorgan, we find the illuftrious name of 
Caradoc (Caraflacus') the renowned prince of the Silures, 
who made fo noble a (landagaihft the powerful forces of 
Rome ; and if, rejecting the "fabulous hrftory of Geoffrey 
■of Monmouth, we adopt the more authentic account of 
the Liber Landavenfis, now in LandafF cathedral, and 
which was written fome centuries before the romance of 
Geoffrey, we (hall find that the famous Arthur was (bn of 
Meirich, king (as he is termed) of Glamorgan,.and a na¬ 
tive of Cardiff. 
Cardiff’ was anciently known by the name of Rhatofta- 
bitts; and, when the Romans invaded Britain, Aulus Di- 
.dius, one of their generals, fir ft eredted a fort, and then 
Rationed a garrifon, to curb the-Silures ; the Welch then 
called it Caer-didi, and afterwards it was called Caer-daf, 
Caer-dyf, vulgo Caer-dydd. The name Caer-daf is ex- 
p re (five of its original (late, and the fittiation of the town, 
i.e. a fortrefs on the Taf, (Tave, now Taft ;) and the next 
(fage of its corruption will account for the prefent Englifh 
-name, Cardiff. The town was built in 1080. Judin ap 
Gvtrgan was the lad Welfh prince that occupied this 
caftle. It was here that Robert Curthofe, duke of Nor¬ 
mandy, elded foil of William the Conqueror, was confined 
for twenty-fix years, by order of his unnatural brother, 
Henry I. who had the cruelty to caufe his eyes to be burnt 
out. In the reign of Charles I. Cardiff, efpoufing the 
caufe of that injured king, was clofely befieged by Oliver 
Cromwell in perfon, who bombarded the caftle from an 
■entrenchment about a quarter of a mile to the weft of 
the town. The cannonade was kept up for three days 
luccefiively, and Oliver, in a book of his own writing, 
.called the Flagellum, fays, “ he fhould have found greater 
difficulty in fubduing Cardiff caftle, had it not been for a 
deferter from the garrifon, wjio oondudted his patty in the 
night-time through a fubterraneous paffage that went un¬ 
der the river Taft' into the caftle, by which means they 
got poilcllion of it with little or no lofs on either (ide 
but, as foon as the garrifon had marched out, Oliver 
can fed the deferter to be hung for his treachery . 
The town of Cardiff is an ancient corporation, under 
the government of the conftable of the caftle, two bailiffs, 
twelve aldermen, twelve capital burgeffes, a (teward, a 
town-clerk, two ferjeants at mace, a water-bailiff, and 
oilier officers. This town, in conjunction with Cowbridge, 
Swan fea, Lougher, Abcnjven, Kenfigg, Neath, and Llan- 
C A R 
triffent, fends one member to parliament. This being the 
county-town, a court of record is held every fortnight, 
and the allizes for the county in April and Auguft yearly. 
Robert earl of Gloucefter, who died in 1147, founded a pri¬ 
ory of white friers, and one of black ones, here, which 
continued till die general diffolution of religious lioufes, 
by Henry VIII. in 1536. A.bout three leagues Couth of 
Cardiff are two iflands, called the Flat and Steep Holmes,; 
on the former of which there is a light-houfe, and a good 
dwelling, where pilots frequently wait to conduct (hips up 
the Briftol Channel. This iffund contains fixty acres of 
land, and is well cultivated. Cardiff has two weekly mar¬ 
kets, viz. Wedneldays and Saturdays, which are well (ap¬ 
plied; fairs, June 29th, Sept. 19th, and Nov. 30th ; high 
markets, (econd Wednefday in March, April, and May ; 
and a new cattle market every Saturday. 
CAR'DIGAN, the countv-town of Cardiganfhire, in 
South-Wales, is 262 miles from London, pleafantly (ituated 
at the mouth of theTivy, over which it has a (lone-bridge. 
It was formerly walled, .and fortified with a caftle, now in 
ruins. The town is large and populous; the.church is a 
(lately edifice ; and the public hall, where the affairs of the 
county are principally tranfacled, makes a grand appear¬ 
ance. Here, alio, was a priory of black monks, dedicated 
to St. Mary, and (ubordinate to the abbey of Chertfey, 
in Surry. The town is governed by a mayor, twelve al¬ 
dermen, common-councilmen, and other inferior officers, 
who enjoy feveral privileges, and fends one member to 
parliament, in conjunction with the boroughs of Abervft- 
witli, Lampeter, and Ad par. The town gives the title of 
earl to the family of Brudenel. In 1136, the Welch ob¬ 
tained a complete victory near this town, over the Englifh 
army, commanded by Ranulph earl of Cbefter. The 
town of Cardigan was once poffefled by the great Robert 
Fitz-Stepiien, who was the firft Briton that ever attempted 
the conqueft of Ireland ; and had fuch fuccefs with a hand¬ 
ful of men, as afterwards gave the Englifh a footing there, 
which they never quitted till they quite reduced the coun¬ 
try. Fifty years ago, the fea-coaft of Cardiganfhire aboun¬ 
ded with herrings, but now there are done, which is attri¬ 
buted to this circumftance : Cardiganfhire produces no 
lime-ftone, and wants manure. For that reafon they bring 
■lime-done unburnt from other countries, and burn it in 
kilns on the coaft. It is fuppofed, that the water being 
tinctured with the lime, has driven them away. It has a 
weekly market on Saturdays. The fairs are, February 13, 
April 5, Sept.8, and Dec. 19. 
CAR'DIGAN BAY, a bayof the Atlantic, on the weft 
coaft of Wales, weft and north-weft of Cardigan. 
CAR'DIG ANSHIRE, a county of South-Wales, boun¬ 
ded on tiie north by the counties of Merioneth and Mont¬ 
gomery, on theeaft by the counties of Radnor and Breck¬ 
nock, on the Couth bythe counties of Carmarthen and Pem¬ 
broke, and on the weft by the Iri(it Sea; about forty miles 
in length, twenty in breadth, and 100 in circumference. 
It contains five hundreds, (ix market-towns, and fends two 
members to parliament, one lor the county, and the other 
for the town of Cardigan, &c. The fea has made great 
encroachments on thefe Ihores, even within the memory of 
man; and tradition (peaks of a well-inhabited country, 
firetching far into the Irifti Channel, which has been car!, 
t ied off by the. ocean. Of an extenfive tract, formerly ce¬ 
lebrated for a hundred towns, nothing now remains but 
two or three miferable villages, and a good deal of ground, 
in ‘high eftimation for barley, which is the regular crop 
without change or intermillion. Sea-weed is the manure 
made life of, and the quality of the grain is fuch, that it 
is Cent to the adjacent counties for feed-corn. For at lea It* 
fixtv years pad, it is (aid that crops of barley have been an¬ 
nually taken from it, without any caufe for complaining of 
a diminilhed produce. This county may be properly di¬ 
vided into two diftridts, the lower and tlie upland. Of the 
lower diftridt, the higher grounds are in general a light 
Candy loam, varying in depth, from a foot to four or five 
inches; the (ubilratura a llaty kind of rock; producing, 
when, 
