With the sea flowing up both Llanthewy Road on the one hand and the Factory Fields on the other, together with the Crindau and Pillgwenlly Marshes which were quagmires, Mill Street was approached only with difficulty from the opposite shore by the river ford which was defended with a fort. The place, which has been called Pendan (to be explained in the first chapter), was further strengthened by the encampment where now stand the Barracks, and the splendid cover for 100,000 men in the Foxwood, behind which lay the final encampment or rampart "Twyn Barlwm "; this, in the light of the ancient records, proves conclusively that the Britons selected the site on which Newport stands as the place for their Capital and seat of government long before Caerleon was founded.
