Town in Carmarthenshire, Wales
Carmarthen
Wales's oldest town has a Roman amphitheatre, a legendary wizard on its coat of arms and a prophecy that it will fall when a certain oak does.
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Key information
- County
- Carmarthenshire
- Nation
- Wales
- Population
- about 14,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Merlin legends, a Roman amphitheatre, the Black Book of Carmarthen and its covered market
- What locals are called
- Carmarthen folk (Caerfyrddinwyr in Welsh)
- Famous people
- Sir Richard Steele, Sir William Nott, Merlin (by legend)
- Football clubs
- Carmarthen Town AFC
About Carmarthen
The town that claims to be Wales's oldest
Carmarthen is often called the oldest town in Wales, and the case is a strong one. The Romans built a fort here around AD 75 on the River Tywi and called it Moridunum. It grew into the Roman civitas capital of the Demetae tribe, the administrative centre for south-west Wales. Only one other civitas capital is known in Wales: Venta Silurum, modern Caerwent, which served the Silures. You can still see the evidence. The remains of a Roman amphitheatre survive on the edge of the town, where crowds once gathered for entertainments in a corner of the empire most Romans considered the far end of the world. The Welsh name, Caerfyrddin, looks like "Merlin's fort". That is where the next story starts.
Why Merlin gets the credit
Moridunum probably meant something like "sea fort". But in the Middle Ages the name was read as Myrddin, the Welsh form of Merlin, and a legend grew that the wizard was born here. The story was boosted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century and has stuck ever since. Carmarthen has leaned into it with gusto, and Merlin is part of the town's identity. The Black Book of Carmarthen backs this up in its way. Written around 1250, it is one of the earliest surviving manuscripts in Welsh and includes poems linked to Myrddin. It is now kept at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.
The oak that must never fall
Carmarthen's best-known superstition is a rhyming prophecy. As long as Merlin's Oak stands, the town stands. The couplet runs: "When Merlin's Oak shall tumble down, then shall fall Carmarthen town." The tree stood in the town's streets for generations, and the lore says it was poisoned by a local. When it finally died, it was not cut down quietly: what remained of it was preserved, as if the town did not want to find out whether the prophecy was true. Carmarthen is still standing. Locals will tell you that is proof of nothing, and also not to push their luck.
Castle, market and a hero on a column
The Normans built a castle above the Tywi, and its restored gatehouse still looks out over the river. Carmarthen has long been a county town and a trading hub for the farmland of the Tywi valley. The covered market is the heart of that trade, and it is the place to look for Welsh cakes, cheese, local meat and bara brith. Carmarthen ham, cured in the traditional way, has a name of its own across Wales. In Nott Square stands a statue of General Sir William Nott, who commanded British forces in the First Anglo-Afghan War and died in Carmarthen in 1845. The Irish-born essayist Sir Richard Steele, co-founder of The Spectator with Joseph Addison, spent his last years in the area and is buried in the town's St Peter's Church.
River, rugby and football
The Tywi is one of the great rivers of Wales, and it is a place where coracle fishing survives, one of the oldest ways of catching salmon and sea trout in Britain. The small, light boats are carried on the fisherman's back. Sport here is mostly rugby, with local clubs feeding the passion that also fills the Scarlets' ground in nearby Llanelli. Football has its own story: Carmarthen Town AFC play at Richmond Park and have taken on European opposition in qualifying rounds. The town is also a centre for Welsh-language culture, home to a campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. The National Eisteddfod has visited the town more than once.