Cardiff

Cardiff grew beside the River Taff and a castle built within the walls of an earlier Roman fort. Its position near the Bristol Channel made it a centre of the lordship of Glamorgan, where a market town developed under the protection of the castle. The Norman keep still rises above the later buildings of the fortress. In 1404 forces fighting for Owain Glyndŵr attacked Cardiff during the Welsh revolt against English rule, damaging the town and castle. Centuries later the castle and its estates passed to the Bute family in 1776. Their ownership would shape the town's subsequent growth, while the old fortress remained a conspicuous sign of its earlier history.