Conclusion

In this review, an attempt has been made to assemble as much evidence of Cardiff’s medieval town defenses as has survived in recorded form. For four hundred years these defenses stood Cardiff in good stead, despite the fact that during those turbulent years Cardiff was burnt down three times, i.e. in 1185, in 1315/16 and in 1404. However, between these events long periods passed when the town defenses successful provided the security they were built for. The first attack came roughly seventy-five years after the palisade was erected. The following period of calm lasted for one hundred and thirty years. After the second attack, the period of calm lasted for nearly ninety years. In other words, between each conflagration three or four generations lived in peace. This speaks for Cardiff’s defenses rather than against them. After the last attack and well into the mid-16^th century, the town wall, its towers and gates were no longer needed. Slowly, the structures fell into disrepair and then into ruin and over a period of another three hundred years they finally disappeared altogether.

Although modern writers on Cardiff’s history have tended to slight the town from time to time for its medieval shortcomings, their predecessors up to the early 16^th century thought exactly the opposite. They were satisfied with the appearance of Cardiff to which the town defenses contributed considerably. The town had its ups and downs like every other town of the era. Sometimes it filled the whole area within its walls, while at other times it shrunk to the confines of the parish of St. John's near the Castle (57). As the medieval writers were able to make comparisons relevant to the times, it seems that they were the better judges. If Cardiff’s development remained somewhat unchanged during those years in which its town defenses decayed, for example the population remained at a steady 2,000, it certainly made up for lost time when the Industrial Revolution swept medieval Cardiff and its defenses away for ever.

Acknowledgement: The author wishes to thank Brian James and Peter Persen for reading and correcting the manuscript. Thanks are also due to the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales for permission to quote from their latest volume of the Glamorganshire Inventory, i.e. 'Later Castles of Glamorganshire, Vol.III' awaiting publication.

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