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Emperor Claudius |
Caractacus, also
known as Caradoc, was a British chieftan. The son of the King of
the Catuvellauni, he acquired a semi-heroic status as the leader
of British resistance to the Roman Conquest that began in AD 43.
Following defeat at a fierce battle between the Romans and the
native British, close to the River Medway, Caractacus fled to
Wales.
Now leading the
Ordovices and Silures tribes, who inhabited a large area of
what is now Monmouthshire, Caractacus was was finally defeated
at the Battle of Caer Caradoc on the Welsh border in AD 50.
Caractacus was eventually captured and taken to Rome where he so
impressed Claudius that he was pardoned by the Emperor.
The Romans had
completed their domination of South Wales by AD 90 and by that time
they had erected a fort called Isca Silurum beside the River Usk.
This became the fortress of the Second Augustan Legion and is the
most important Roman site in Wales. Isca Silurum is now known
as Caerleon-on-Usk and is a suburb of Newport.
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Caerleon
held a force of approximately 6000 men and outside its walls was
erected a stone amphitheatre to hold gladiatorial combats.
There is also a small museum at Caerleon.
There were several military
stations in this area, Abergavenny, Usk and Monmouth in
Monmouthshire, Cardhill, Neath and Loughor in Glamorgan. The
chief station of the Romans in Radnorshire was at Castle Collen near
Llandridnod Wells.
The Romans did not penetrate far
into West Wales, apart from a road to their forts at Carmarthen and
Llandovery. In fact they maintained only a brief and tenuous grip on
the native Welsh.
The Romans built numerous forts,
joined by roads, to try and subdue the Welsh. One of their largest
fortresses was built at Y Gaer, two miles upstream from Brecon, and
another at Llanio.
The Romans mined for gold in
Wales. There are still traces of the square-hewn tunnels at the
Roman mine at Dolau Cothi near the village of Pumsaint in
Carmarthenshire. DolauCothi Gold Mine is now maintained by the
National Trust .
Finds from Roman Wales can be
seen in Hereford ( near Roman Kenchester) Museum.
Useful links:
Dolaucothi Gold Mines, National Trust.
© E.P.C.
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