Historic Roman city of the Legions. Station of the Second Legion: as "Isca (Usk) Legionis" it was the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Secunda, and therefore a place of considerable importance.

Pigot describes Caerleon in his Directory of 1844 as once the metropolis of Wales, and for extent, next to London, it was then the third city in Britain, having been an archbishop's see from the first establishment of Christianity in England. The modern Caerleon is a northern suburb of Newport and the site of the main University campus.