CAERLEON

The fall and rise of a Roman city.

Caerleon was once one of the three most important places in Britain. Along with Chester and York it was a permanent Roman fortress.

The "City of the Legions" is also a "City of Legends", chiefly involving King Arthur, whose capital, Camelot, is said to have been sited on the banks of the river Usk in South Wales, where 12 Knights sat at fabled Round Table in Caerleon's Roman amphitheatre. But Caerleon can claim more recent knights, among them Elizabethan military hero Sir Roger Williams and current billionaire Sir Terry Matthews.

Caerleon can also claim its own "house of horrors" and a gold mine, is now a suburb of one of the country's newest cities.

A fall in status? Yes and no. It's a suburb with, rather than previously national status, now an international importance thanks to extensive excavations which have revealed the only remains of a Roman legionary barracks on view anywhere in Europe and the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.

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Monmouthshire-born John F. Francis was an experienced daily newspaper journalist before obtaining a First-Class Honours degree in History/Welsh History and then a Doctorate.