The Place

Caerphilly is a small Welsh town (expanding all the time) situated a few miles North of the Welsh capital Cardiff. At the present time the population is approximately 30,000.

The town is well known for two things, firstly the castle and also Caerphilly cheese (which isn’t made anywhere in Caerphilly these days, but can be found in local supermarkets).

The town of Caerphilly didn’t really start to grow until the start of the 19th century, even though the castle was built in 1271, the surrounding town remained very small ( the population in 1795 was 200). Later in the century though Caerphilly occupied a prime transportation position with it being in a prime location between the industrial areas of Merthyr and the port of Cardiff (road and later rail went through Caerphilly), the town began to grow as a temporary store for goods and also as an import and export centre. At this time the town had a market which sold food, woolen products, horses, cattle, grain and of course sheep.

The town at this time had 4 woolen mills employing 1/6 of the workforce, by 1841 the population was 634. In the 1860’s and 70’s the number of drift mines increased to 16, even though the industry was entering into a depression the population of the town reached 2000 by 1881. As the drift mines business continued to dwindle Caerphilly’s future looked uncertain but then deep shafts were sunk in neighbouring Senghenydd, Abertridwr, Bedwas and Llanbradach. This caused a population explosion due to the amount of work available ( the population reached 3,300 by the turn of the century).

The population has continued to grow throughout this century. The heavy industry in the area has long gone but Caerphilly still has a number of industrial estates which are occupied by various companies.

Bibliography: A History of Caerphilly, H.P.Richards, A Short History of Caerphilly, H.P.Richards