CAERPHILLY

Welsh Caerffili castle town, Caerphilly county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), Wales. The town grew up outside a 13th-century castle. The still-incomplete structure was destroyed in 1270 by the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd but was rebuilt from 1271 onward, with some 14th-century additions. Covering 30 acres (12 hectares), the castle is the largest in Britain after Windsor; it was built on a concentric plan with a surrounding moat. Derelict by 1536 except for one part used as a prison, the castle was further destroyed in the English Civil Wars (during the 1640s) by Parliamentary forces; one tower still leans at an angle after an unsuccessful attempt to blow it up. In 1949 the marquess of Bute donated the castle to the crown. During the 19th century Caerphilly became a mining town and was also a centre for a local cheese-making industry that has since disappeared. The town suffered economically and lost population when coal mining ceased in the late 20th century, but the community has attracted light industries. It is also an active shopping centre and a residential base for commuters to Cardiff. Pop. (1991) 28,481. Welsh Caerffili county borough, southeastern Wales. The area west of the River Rhymney forms part of the historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), and the area east of the river belongs to the historic county of Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy). Caerphilly county borough extends from the edge of Brecon Beacons National Park in the north to the outskirts of the city of Cardiff in the south and includes several deep valleys separated by wooded hills. An Iron Age fort and a medieval castle mound have been discovered north of the town of Risca. About AD 75 the Romans built a fort at the present-day town of Caerphilly in the south and a command garrison on the west side of the Rhymney valley at Old Gelligaer. In 1268 Gilbert de Clare, lord of Glamorgan, began construction of Caerphilly Castle, but in 1270 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (the last Welsh prince of Wales) destroyed the structure. It was begun again in 1271 and survived the damage of the English Civil Wars in the 1640s. The castle, occupying an area of 30 acres (12 hectares), is the largest in Great Britain after Windsor. The Rhymney valley underwent rapid development as a coal-mining district in the 18th and 19th centuries with the coming of the Industrial Revolution. Coal mines were opened in the valleys to the east, around Blackwood and Abercarn, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Coal mining virtually ceased in the area during the late 20th century, and the county borough suffered economically, although other economic activities have developed in many towns. Caerphilly town has become an important shopping centre for the surrounding area as well as a residential base for workers who commute to Cardiff. The eastern part of the county borough lies within the commuting sphere of Newport. The former mining town of Rhymney, farther north, has some breweries and light engineering. Ystrad Mynach is the county borough's administrative centre. Area 104 square miles (270 square km). Pop. (1998 est.) 169,600.