Llantrisant

Llantrisant is a town in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff, within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying on the River Ely and the River Clun. A settlement has existed on this site from at least the beginning of the 6th century, when the poet Aneurin wrote of 'the white houses of Glamorgan' when referring to Llantrisant. The town's name translates as The Parish of the Three Saints. The three saints in question are St Illtyd, St Gwynno and St Dyfodwg. Llantrisant is a hilltop settlement, at an altitude of 174 m (565 ft) above sea level. It was seized around 1246 by Richard de Clare who built Llantrisant Castle. It is thought that de Clare established the borough of Llantrisant though the exact charter occurred in 1346.

In 1346, Llantrisant was granted a Royal Charter months before the archers from the town helped Edward, the Black Prince, win a victory against the French army at the Battle of Crecy. The Llantrisant longbow men were pivotal in the adoption of the English longbow as the missile weapon of choice for the English crown during the Middle Ages.

Llantrisant was one of the eight boroughs constituting the Glamorgan borough following the Act of Union, a status it held until 1918.