It wasn't until AD43 that cats were introduced by the Romans in significant numbers. There is also evidence that the Danes on their raids to Britain may have taken many cats to patrol their ships for vermin. They became firmly established in the Middle Ages but due to superstition and folklore numbers declined. Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) hated cats and issued a papal bull that declared cats bore Satan's spirit. This led to huge numbers being killed across Europe with bubonic plague following due to rat infestations; the fleas on the rat transmitting the disease. Dick Whittington (1354-1423) then came into our folklore and the cat became established again.
Today in Treflach cats are an integral part in pest control on the few farms left in the area. Rats are attracted to animal feed, but rat poisons have become useless as locally grown maize creates super rats that binge on this new crop which is full of vitamin K which acts as an antidote so is not toxic. The wildlife kill due to cat predation is low as cat numbers relative to rich habitat population is sparse.
Cats unlike dogs have never been developed by man for special tasks so the farm cat of today is very much the same as in Roman times being happy both in the barn and by the hearth.