Editing Haverfordwest (section)

===Origins===
Scores of Iron Age and Roman coinage and artefact discoveries, and excavations by the Dyfed Archaeological Trust under the direction of Heather James at Carmarthen (Moridunum) in the 1980s, point to significant Roman penetration to this westernmost part of Wales. The strategic position of Haverfordwest with its defensive bluff overlooking the lowest fordable point on the western Cleddau and accessible to sea traffic would have required a Roman presence, probably modest in scale, from the 1st century AD to protect supplies to and from the coast, e.g. the Roman legionary headquarters at Caerleon were roofed with slates from the lower slopes of the [[Preseli Hills]]. In 1992, aerial photography identified a [[Roman road]] running to the west of [[Carmarthen]], past [[Wiston, Pembrokeshire|Wiston]] to Poyston Cross, raising the possibility of Roman fortlets at strategic river crossings at [[Whitland]] and Haverfordwest. [[Edward Llwyd]]'s note to Camden's ''Britannia'' (ed. 1695) refers to a valuable find of silver coins at [[Llanboidy]], the latest coin being one of [[Domitian]] struck in AD 91. In the 1920s Sir [[Mortimer Wheeler]] partially excavated a Roman dwelling or villa at Wolfscastle; work was restarted in 2002 by Professor Merroney. James Phillips, in ''The History of Pembrokeshire'' (published 1909), records a find of Roman silver coins in Haverfordwest, the earliest dated coin a [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] and the latest a [[Claudius Gothicus]]. The museum in which the coins were deposited has been "scattered to the winds" and the whereabouts of the coins is unknown.

Phillips claimed that the pre-Norman name of Haverfordwest was Caer Alun, so named by the Emperor [[Magnus Maximus|Maximus]] (Macsim Gwledig). His sources are not given but the ''Cambro-Briton'' in 1822 also recorded that Maximus, the last Roman Emperor of Britain, a man who for a time divided the Roman Empire with [[Theodosius I]], on withdrawing Roman legions from Britain granted civic status and Celtic names to a number of pacified Romano-British settlements, including [[Southampton]], [[Chichester]], [[Old Sarum]] near Salisbury, [[Carmarthen]] (Caerfyrddin) and Haverfordwest (Caer Alun). Maximus had married Elen, a Welsh noblewoman, and they had three sons. Phillips claims that the name actually given to the town was Caer Elen, in honour of his wife (the name later changing to Caer Alun).