LLANTRISANT  , a small

town and a contributory parliamentary borough of Glamorganshire, Wales, picturesquely situated with a southern aspect, commanding a fine view of the vale of Glamorgan, in a pass on the mountain range which separates that vale from the valley of the Taff . The population of the parish in 1901 was 10,091 and of the contributory borough 2057 . A branch of the Taff Vale railway running from Pontypridd to Cowbridge and Aberthaw has a station, Cross Inn, 2 m. below the town, while nearly 2 M. farther south it passes (near the village of Pontyclun) through Llantrisant station on the Great Western railway main line, which is 1564 m. by rail from London and 11 m . N.W. from Cardiff . The castle, which according to G . T . Clark was " second only to Cardiff in military importance," dates from the reign of Henry III. or Edward I . Of the original building nothing remains, and of a later building only a tall and slender fragment . It was the head of the lordship of Miskin, a great part of which was in the hands of native owners, until the last of them, Howel ap Meredith, was expelled by Richard de Clare (1229-1262) . Since then it has always been in the hands of the lord of Glamorgan . It was in the near neighbourhood of the town that Edward II. was captured in 1327 . In 1426 the then lord of Glamorgan, Richard, 5th earl of Warwick, granted to the residents a charter confirming grants made by his predecessors in 1346, 1397 and 1424 .

The

corporation was abolished in 1883, and its property (including 284 acres of common land) is administered by a town trust under a scheme of the charity commissioners . The " freemen " of the borough, how-ever, still hold a court leet in the town-hall . The market formerly held here has been discontinued, but there are four annual fairs . The church was dedicated to three saints (Illtyd, Gwyno and Tyfodwg), whence the name Llantrisant . Originally a Norman building, most of the present fabric belongs to the 15th century . There are numerous chapels . Welsh is still the predominant language . Oliver Cromwell's forbears were natives of this parish, as also was Sir Leoline Jenkins, secretary of state under Charles II . There are tinplate works at Pontyclun and numerous collieries in the district .