Caerleon (/kərˈliːən/ kər-LEE-ən; Welsh: Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Newport city centre, and 5.5 miles (9 km) southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress, Isca Augusta, and an Iron Age hillfort. Close to the remains of Isca Augusta are the National Roman Legion Museum and the Roman Baths Museum. The town also has strong historical and literary associations: Geoffrey of Monmouth elevated the significance of Caerleon as a major centre of British history in his Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136), and Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote Idylls of the King (1859–1885) while staying in Caerleon.
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👉 Caerleon in the context of Newport, Wales
Newport (Welsh: Casnewydd [kasˈnɛwɨð]) is a city and county borough in Wales, on the River Usk near its confluence with the Severn Estuary, approximately 12 mi (19 km) northeast of Cardiff. The population grew significantly between the 2011 and the 2021 census, increasing from 145,700 to 159,587, the largest growth of any unitary authority in Wales. Newport is the third-largest principal authority with city status in Wales and the sixth most populous overall. Newport became a unitary authority in 1996 and forms part of the Cardiff-Newport metropolitan area, and the Cardiff Capital Region.
Newport has been a port since the Middle Ages, originating with the construction of Newport Castle by the Normans. The town eventually outgrew the earlier Roman settlement of Caerleon, located just upstream and now incorporated into the city. Newport received its first charter in 1314. The town experienced significant growth during the 19th century, as its port became a major hub for coal exports from the eastern South Wales Valleys. For a time, Newport was the largest coal-exporting port in Wales, until Cardiff surpassed it in the mid-1800s. Newport was also the site of the last large-scale armed insurrection in Great Britain, the Newport Rising of 1839.
Caerleon in the context of Isca Augusta
Isca, variously specified as Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum, was the site of a Roman legionary fortress and settlement or vicus, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day suburban town of Caerleon in the north of the city of Newport in South Wales. The site includes Caerleon Amphitheatre and is protected by Cadw.
Headquarters of the Legion "II Augusta", which took part in the invasion under Emperor Claudius in 43, Isca is uniquely important for the study of the conquest, pacification and colonisation of Britannia by the Roman army. It was one of only three permanent legionary fortresses in later Roman Britain and, unlike the other sites at Chester and York, its archaeological remains lie relatively undisturbed beneath fields and the town of Caerleon and provide a unique opportunity to study the Roman legions in Britain. Excavations continue to unearth new discoveries; in the late 20th century a complex of very large monumental buildings outside the fortress between the River Usk and the amphitheatre was uncovered. This new area of the canabae was previously unknown.
Caerleon in the context of Tessa Wheeler
Tessa Wheeler FSA (née Verney; 27 March 1893 – 15 April 1936) was a South Africa-born English archaeologist who made significant contributions to techniques used in archaeological excavation and contributed to the setting up of major British archaeological institutions after the Second World War.
Owing to the gender politics of the era, she remains best known as the wife and professional partner of Mortimer Wheeler. They collaborated on major excavations in Wales and England (including Segontium, Caerleon, and Verulamium) and their investigation of Maiden Castle, Dorset had been ongoing for two years when she died unexpectedly from complications following a minor operation.
Caerleon in the context of National Roman Legion Museum
The National Roman Legion Museum (Wales) (Welsh: Amgueddfa Lleng Rufeinig Cymru) is a museum in Caerleon, near Newport, south-east Wales. It is one of three Roman sites in Caerleon, along with the Baths museum and the open-air ruins of the amphitheatre and barracks. It is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.
Caerleon in the context of River Usk
The River Usk (/ʌsk/; Welsh: Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (y Mynydd Du), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it flows north into Usk Reservoir, then east through Sennybridge to Brecon before turning southeast to flow by Talybont-on-Usk, Crickhowell and Abergavenny, after which it takes a more southerly course.
Beyond the eponymous town of Usk, it passes the Roman legionary fortress of Caerleon to flow through the heart of the city of Newport and into the Severn Estuary at Uskmouth near the Newport Wetlands. The river is about 125 kilometres (78 miles) long and drains a basin of 1160 km. According to the Encyclopaedia of Wales (which gives a figure of 137 km (85 mi)), the river is the longest to flow wholly within Wales.