Churches.— The only ancient church is Saint John's with a fine decorated tower, built in 1473, by Anne Nevill, who inherited the lordship of Glamorgan. She was the wife of Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick ("the king maker))) and mother of Ann, wife of Richard III. There are numerous modern Episcopalian, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist churches. The ancient cathedral of Llandaff is just out side the city boundary.
The Romans had an important station here, extensive remains of their fortifi cations having recently been discovered in the castle grounds. According to tradition, Cardiff was an important place under the Welsh princes before the Roman occupation; it was certainly a stronghold of the Welsh after the departure of the Romans, and was ravaged by Danes and Norsemen. After the Norman con quest the district was subdued by Robert Fitz hamon and his followers, who established a powerful Marcher Lordship with Cardiff as the capital. The Castle Keep was erected in side the Roman fortification by the Norman lords. The town and district were in the hands of the feudal lords for centuries, and the scene of several bitter contests between the Welsh and their alien masters. Cardiff was at
this time surrounded by a high and massive wall and a moat, while the castle, with its law courts and other appanages of feudalism, was a very strong place, guarded by relays of soldiers supplied in rotation from the forces of the under lords, who had castles in the surrounding districts. The lordship reverted to the King in 1495 and was in 1550 granted, stripped of its feudal privileges, to Sir William Herbert, afterward first Earl of Pembroke, from whom it has descended to the Marquess of Bute.
During the civil war Cardiff was an im portant centre of operations, and was held by the forces of the King and of Cromwell in turn. It was visited by Charles I in 1645, who there sought to revive the loyalty of his fol lowers, but with poor success. The decay of feudalism stripped the town of its importance and it continued to decline until the dawn of the era of coal and iron. Sir Thomas Button, the navigator, was a native of Cardiff.
In 1801 the population was 1,870, and 50 years later, 18,351. In 1911 it was 182,259.
'The Cardiff Records' (6 vols., published by the city council); 'Cardiff,' an illustrated handbook, edited by Ballinger (1896).