until the year 877, when Prince Cadell of
South Wales abandoned Carmarthen for Dinefawr, near Llandilo, probably
on account of the maritime raids of the Danes and Saxons. Towards the
close of the 11th century a castle was built here by the Normans, and
for the next two hundred years town and castle were frequently taken and
retaken by Welsh or English. On the annexation of Wales, Edward I.
established here his courts of chancery and exchequer and the great
sessions for South Wales. Edward III., by the Statute Staple of 1353,
declared Carmarthen the sole staple for Wales, ordering that every bale
of Welsh wool should be sealed or "cocketed" here before it left the
Principality. The earliest charter recorded was granted in 1201 under
King John; a charter of James I. in 1604 constituted Carmarthen a county
of itself; and under a charter by George III. in 1764, which had been
specially petitioned for by the citizens, the two separate jurisdictions
of Old and New Carmarthen were fused and henceforth "called by the name
of Our Borough of Carmarthen." In 1555 Bishop Farrar of St David's was
publicly burned for heresy under Queen Mary at the Market Cross, which
was ruthlessly destroyed in 1846 to provide a site for General Nott's
statue. In 1646 General Laugharne took and demolished the castle in the
name of the parliament, and in 1649 Oliver Cromwell resided at
Carmarthen on his way to Ireland. In 1684 the duke of Beaufort with a
numerous train made his state entry into Carmarthen as lord-president of
Wales and the Marches. With the rise of Llanelly the industrial
importance of Carmarthen has tended to decline; but owing to its central
position, its close connexion with the bishops of St David's and its
historic past the town is still the chief focus of all social, political
and ecclesiastical movements in the three counties of Cardigan, Pembroke
and Carmarthen. Carmarthen was created a parliamentary borough in 1536.

CARMARTHENSHIRE. (_Sir Gaerfyrddin_, colloquially known as _Sir Gar_), a
county of South Wales bounded N. by Cardigan, E. by Brecon and
Glamorgan, W. by Pembroke and S. by Carmarthen Bay of the Bristol
Channel. The modern county has an area of 918 sq. m., and is therefore
the largest in size of the South Welsh counties. Almost the whole of its
surface is hilly and irregular, though the coast-line is fringed with
extensive stretches of marsh or sandy burrows. Much of the scenery in
the county, particularly in