Town in Powys, Wales
Brecon
A small Welsh market town where Britain's elite soldiers are tested on the hills above, a jazz festival fills the streets, and a plot against Richard III was hatched in a castle tower.
Key information
- County
- Powys
- Nation
- Wales
- Population
- about 8,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Gateway to Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons), Brecon Cathedral, the canal basin, Brecon Jazz
- What locals are called
- Breconians
- Famous people
- Sarah Siddons, Hugh Price
About Brecon
The town the Fan Dance starts above
Brecon sits where the River Honddu runs into the Usk, with some of the best hill country in Wales rising just to the south. Pen y Fan, at 886 metres the highest summit in southern Britain, is a short drive away. The mountains around it are famous for more than views: the army uses them for tough selection marches, and the Fan Dance route over Pen y Fan has a reputation that reaches well beyond Wales. The Welsh name, Aberhonddu, simply means the mouth of the Honddu. The English name comes from Brychan, a 5th-century king who gave his name to the old kingdom of Brycheiniog. That name also belongs to the mountains: in April 2023 the national park authority adopted Bannau Brycheiniog as the park's principal name in its branding.
A Norman castle and a plot against a king
The Normans arrived in the 1090s. Bernard de Neufmarché took the district and built a castle on the high ground above the confluence. Roman soldiers had been here first, though: their fort, Y Gaer, stood just outside the modern town. The castle's best story comes from 1483. John Morton, Bishop of Ely, was held here as a prisoner of the Duke of Buckingham. The two men ended up conspiring against Richard III, and a rebellion followed. It failed and Buckingham was executed, but Morton survived and helped bring the Tudors to the throne. The Ely Tower, named after the bishop, still stands in the castle grounds. The ruins now sit beside the Bishop's Palace gardens, a quiet corner of the town.
A priory church that became a cathedral
Brecon Cathedral crowns the hill above the Honddu. It began as a Benedictine priory church founded in the Norman period and only became a cathedral in 1923, when the Church in Wales created the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon. Inside is a cresset stone, a block pitted with cup-shaped hollows that were filled with oil and lit as lamps. The cathedral's heritage centre occupies a restored tithe barn nearby, and the whole precinct feels more like a village green than a city centre.
Rorke's Drift and a regimental museum
Brecon has a long link with the army, and above all with the South Wales Borderers, whose heritage is told in the town's regimental museum, now part of the Royal Welsh collection. The regiment's earlier form, the 24th Foot, defended Rorke's Drift in 1879. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded for the defence, seven of them to men of the 24th Foot. The film Zulu (1964) made the story world-famous. The Brecon museum holds the real objects and tells the human story behind it.
Siddons, Price and a famous stage name
The great tragic actress Sarah Siddons was born in Brecon in 1755, at the Shoulder of Mutton inn on High Street, now the Sarah Siddons pub at number 47. Her stage presence made her the biggest theatrical star of her age, and Joshua Reynolds painted her as the Tragic Muse. Another Breconian made his mark in education. Hugh Price, a lawyer born in the town, founded Jesus College, Oxford, in 1571, and the college has kept strong Welsh connections ever since. The Duke of Wellington's statue stands in the Bulwark, the roundabout-like square at the heart of the town.
Canal boats, jazz and market days
The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal ends in Brecon, in a basin lined with narrowboats and the Theatr Brycheiniog. It is one of the prettiest canal towns in Britain, and the towpath leads out into the Usk valley. Every August the streets fill with music for Brecon Jazz, which began in 1984 and has drawn international names to pubs, halls and marquees. The town also has a busy market tradition, with stalls in the Market Hall and a food festival that showcases Welsh cheeses, lamb and ales from across the Marches. Locally, you can also buy Welsh cakes still warm from the griddle, which makes a good snack before a mountain walk.