Brecon Cathedral
Encyclopedia
Brecon
Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...
, is the Cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon
Diocese of Swansea and Brecon
The Diocese of Swansea and Brecon was established as a Diocese of the Church in Wales in 1923 with Brecon Priory as the Cathedral. The Diocese has a border with five other Welsh Dioceses, as well as with the English Diocese of Hereford....
in the Church in Wales
Church in Wales
The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...
, and seat of the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon
Bishop of Swansea and Brecon
The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Swansea and Brecon.The diocese covers the City and County of Swansea and the ancient counties of Brecknockshire and Radnorshire...
. Previously the church of Brecon Priory and then the Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, it became Brecon Cathedral following the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, and the creation of the Diocese in 1923.
History
Because of the characteristic round shape of its churchyard, the cathedral is thought to be on the site of an earlier Celtic church, of which no trace remains. A new church, dedicated to St. JohnJohn the Evangelist
Saint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
, was built on the orders of Bernard de Neufmarché
Bernard de Neufmarché
Bernard of Neufmarché was "the first of the original conquerors of Wales." He was a minor Norman lord who rose to power in the Welsh Marches before successfully undertaking the invasion and conquest of the Kingdom of Brycheiniog between 1088 and 1095. Out of the ruins of the Welsh kingdom he...
, the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
who conquered the kingdom of Brycheiniog in 1093. He gave the church to one of his followers, Roger, a monk from Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
, who founded a priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
on the site as a daughter house of Battle. The first prior at Brecon was Walter, another monk from Battle. Bernard de Neufmarché also endowed the priory with lands, rights and tithes from the surrounding area, and, after his death, it passed to the Earls of Hereford, so giving it greater prosperity. The church was rebuilt and extended in the Gothic style
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
in about 1215, during the reign of King John. In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the church was known as the church of Holy Rood
Holyrood (cross)
The Holyrood or Holy Rood is a Christian relic considered to be part of the True Cross on which Jesus died. The word derives from the Old English rood, meaning a cross, or from the Scots haly ruid...
or Holy Cross, because it owned a great 'golden rood' which was an object of pilgrimage and veneration until it was destroyed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in the sixteenth century.
In 1538, the Prior was pensioned off, and the priory church became the parish church. Some of the surrounding buildings were adapted for secular use and others, such as the cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
s, were left to decay and later demolished. By the nineteenth century, the church was in poor repair and only the nave was in use. Some restoration took place in 1836, but major renovation of the church did not start until the 1860s. The tower was strengthened in 1914.
Current position
The present Dean is the Very Reverend Geoffrey Marshall, who was appointed in 2008. He succeeded the Very Reverend John DaviesJohn Davies (bishop of Swansea and Brecon)
John David Edward Davies has been since 2008 the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in the Church in Wales.John David Edward Davies was born 6 February 1953. He was educated at Southampton University....
who became Bishop of the diocese and prior to him the Dean was the Very Reverend Geraint Hughes
Geraint Morgan Hugh Hughes
The Very Rev Geraint Morgan Hugh Hughes, MA was an eminent Anglican Priest in the late 20th century. He was born into an ecclesiastical family on 21 November 1934 and educated at Brecon Grammar School, Keble College, Oxford, and St. Michael's College, Llandaff. After National Service in the RAF...
.
In recent years, some of the buildings in the Cathedral close have been converted into a Diocesan Centre, a Heritage Centre and exhibition, as well as a shop and Pilgrims restaurant.
Burials
- Charles LumleyCharles LumleyCharles Henry Lumley VC was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces...
(1824–1858) awarded the Victoria CrossVictoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
during the Crimean WarCrimean WarThe Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, is buried in the cathedral churchyard http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=city&FScityid=404391
Organ
A specification of the pipe organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ RegisterList of organists
- 1923 John Humphrey Carden
- 1956 David Gwerfyl Davies (formerly organist of The Church of St. Nicholas, Kings Norton)
- 1963 Michael Bryan Hesford (later organist of St Mary's Church, Melton Mowbray)
- 1966 David Patrick Gedge
- 2007 Mark Duthie
