SILURES  , a powerful and warlike tribe in

ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouth, Brecon and Glamorgan . They made a fierce resistance to the Roman conquest about A.U . 48, but a legionary fortress (Isca Silurum, Cwrleon) was planted in their midst and by A.D . 78 they were overcome . Their town Venta Silurum (Cmrwent, 6 m . W. of Chepstow) became a Romanized town, not unlike Silchester, but smaller . Its massive Roman walls still survive, and recent excavations have revealed a town hall and market square, a temple, baths, amphitheatre, and many comfortable houses with mosaics, &c . An inscription shows that under the Roman Empire it was the chef-lieu of the Silures, whose ordo or county council provided for the local government of the district . (F . J .