Caerphilly boy

Another Tommy Cooper memorial in town, it's on the railway bridge.

The town's site has long been of strategic significance. Around AD 75 a fort was built by the Romans during their conquest of Britain.[1] An excavation of the site in 1963 showed that the fort was occupied by Roman forces until the middle of the 2nd century.[1]

Tradition states that a monastery was built in the area by St Cenydd, but this claim lacks support.[2] Nonetheless, the district was formerly named Senghenydd after him, and Cenydd's son, St Ffili, is said to have built a fort (Welsh: caer) in the area and thus gave the town its name.[3] Another explanation is that it is named after the Anglo-Norman Marcher Lord, Philip de Braose.[3]

Following the Norman invasion of Wales in the late 11th century, the area of Sengenhydd remained in Welsh hands. By the middle of the 12th century the area was under the control of the Welsh chieftain Ifor Bach (Ifor ap Meurig). His grandson Gruffyd ap Rhys was the final Welsh lord of Sengenhydd, falling to the English nobleman Gilbert de Clare, the Red Earl, in 1266.[2] In 1267 Henry III was forced to recognise Llywelyn the Last as the Prince of Wales, and by September 1268 Llywelyn had secured northern Sengenhydd. Gilbert de Clare had already begun to take steps to consolidate his own territorial gains, beginning the construction of Caerphilly Castle on 11 April 1268.[4][5] The castle would also act as a buffer against Llewelyn's own territorial ambitions and was attacked by the Prince of Wales' forces before construction was halted in 1270. Construction recommenced in 1271 and was continued under the Red Earl's son, Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester.[5][6] With only interior remodelling carried out to the castle by Hugh le Despenser in the 1320s, Caerphilly Castle remains a pure example of 13th century military architecture and is the largest castle in Wales, and the second largest in Britain (after Windsor).[5][7]