[6] Throughout much of the Prehistoric period, human activity in the Laugharne area was centred on Coygan Bluff,[10] a steep-sided limestone peninsula[11] overlooking the now submerged coastal plain to the south.

A natural cave[12] on the southeast face of the promontory was excavated five times between 1865 and 1965[13] yielding significant evidence that its chambers acted as a temporary shelter for groups of hunter-gatherers moving through the landscape over 50,000 years ago[14] and later material in the form of flint tools indicating an extended series of occupations from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.

[18] During the Bronze Age, Coygan camp is recorded as the site of an open settlement with funerary and ritual activity shown by a short-cist contracted inhumation.

Further finds at a nearby round barrow on Laugharne Burrows[19] together with Beaker burials at Plashett[20] and Orchard Park[21] confirm a more permanent community.

Excavation in the 1960s of the defended enclosure on Coygan revealed two huts contemporary with the defensive bank and ditch and a significant quantity of pottery recovered dating to the late 3rd century AD indicating that the site was occupied deep into the Romano-British period.

The Laugharne hoard of over 2000 coins[24] and Roman bath remains found at Island House,[25] together with the substantial Romano-British group of imported 6th-century finewares, coinage and glass from Coygan Camp, described as "one of the richest from a native settlement in south-west Wales",[26] are all part of a concentration of traditional 'Roman' finds in the area.

As evidence of activity from the period is generally scarce, these discoveries confirm the site as one of importance[27] and suggest that it continued to be a high status settlement well beyond the Roman occupation.

[28] A 6th-century inscribed stone lies within Llansadwrnen church to the north, considered to be an outlying burial site of the more important secular settlement on Coygan.

Laugharne Church,[29] which contains a 9th-century Celtic slab stone[30] and where a long cist grave cemetery has also been recorded, is thought to be a more likely early ecclesiastical site in the immediate area.

Courtemain may be the Robertus cum tortis manibus (English: Robert with twisted hands)[36] mentioned in the Book of Llandaff, as one of a number of specifically named Norman magnates[notes 1] within the vicinity of the Llandaff diocese, who received a letter from Pope Callixtus II complaining about deprivations they had inflicted on diocesan church property;[37] in the letter, the Pope warns he would confirm Bishop Urban's proclamations against them, if they do not rectify matters.

[8] When Henry I died, Anarchy occurred, and Gruffydd, and his sons, Lord Rhys in particular, gradually reconquered large parts of the former Deheubarth.

Returning from Ireland after one such occasion, in 1172, King Henry made peace with Lord Rhys, making him the justiciar of "South Wales" (ie.

[35] Guy de Bryan's descendants continued to hold the castle; his namesake great-grandson was Lord High Admiral of England.

As at Carew Perrot modernised the castle, but he was the most unscrupulous "land-grabber" of his age, and in 1574 he induced the burgesses to part with three hundred acres of land in return for an annuity of £9 6s.

[54] Many scenes in the BBC Television series Keeping Faith (broadcast in Welsh as Un Bore Mercher) were filmed in and around Laugharne, referred to as Abercorran.

[55] The Laugharne Weekend, a three-day arts festival held in the spring of 2007, featured writers such as Niall Griffiths and Patrick McCabe.