BATTLE, a parish, in the hundred of MERTHYR-CYNOG, county of BRECKNOCK, SOUTH WALES, 2 miles (N.W.by W.) from Brecknock,
containing 192 inhabitants. This place, though traditionally said to have derived its name from a battle, in which the
last of the Brechinian princes, Bleddyn ab Maenyrch, was defeated and slain by Bernard de Newmarch, is, with greater
probability, supposed to have been so called in honour of the monastery of Battle, in the county of Sussex, to which abbey
the priory of Brecknock was made a cell by its founder Bernard de Newmarch, the whole, or greater part, of this parish
having belonged to the latter priory. Prior to the commencement of the fourteenth century, it was a hamlet in the pariah
of St. John the Evangelist, in the town of Brecknock, in the church of which the inhabitants have still a chapel, to which
they resorted for divine service prior to the erection of their church, and in which they still occasionally bury their
dead. The village is situated near the river Yscir, which falls into the Usk at Aberyscir; and the neighbourhood, in
which are several neat villas and handsome seats, abounds with romantically beautiful and richly varied scenery. Pennoyre,
the seat of John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins, Esq., is a handsome modern residence, surrounded by a very extensive demesne, of
which the grounds are laid out with appropriate taste: the approach is by an avenue of great length, which is not yet
completed: the views from the house are extensive, and comprehend an expanse of scenery which is at once superb and
sublime: through a small vista on the east are seen the village of Llandew, and Peytyn GwYn, the latter, in the early
part of his lifetime, the residence of the celebrated Sir David Gam; and in the back ground are the Black mountains, in
the direction of Talgarth. On the west is a fine view of the beautiful Vale of Usk and the grounds above Penpont, beyond
which is Abercamlais, skirted behind by the mountains of Llywel and Devynock. The view from the south is richly
magnificent; nearly opposite to the house is the knoll of Venny-Vich, luxuriantly clothed with wood, beyond which the
precipitous and majestic summits of the Beacons lift their aspiring heads. The appearance of the Beacons, which from this
spot are seen to great advantage, is always interesting, though varying according to the state of the atmosphere: in fine
weather the whole outline may be distinctly traced, in all the irregularity of its extent; and in cloudy or rainy weather,
the clouds, which are continually hovering over, or breaking on, their summits, assume an appearance indescribably
beautiful. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Brecknock, and diocese of St. David's, endowed with
£600 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Trustees of the late John Browne, Esq.:
there is neither parsonage nor glebe attached to the living. The church, dedicated to St. Cynog, is supposed to have been
built by the prior and convent of St. John's, Brecknock, at the commencement of the fourteenth century, when it first
became parochial: it is a small unadorned edifice, situated on an eminence above the Yscir, commanding a fine view of one
reach of the Usk, with the wood of Venny-V&ch in front, and the beautiful plantations of Penpont and Abercamlais, fringing
the slopes down to the very margin of the river, in the western horizon: the east window, for the repair of which the sum
of ,twelvepence was bequeathed in 1573, is in the later style of English architecture: the sacramental cup, on which the
letters W. P. D., and the date 1576 are engraved, is supposed to be the oldest in the county. A school for the gratuitous
instruction of poor children is supported by subscription. In the neighbourhood arc several objects, the names of which
are supposed to allude to the battle before mentioned: these are Heol y Cymry, "the Welshmen's lane ;" Cwm gw9r y gad,
"the wood of the vale of battle ;" and Fynon Pen Rhys, or " the well of RhYs' head," near which the unfortunate RhYs ab
Tewdwr, who had just escaped from the battle of Hirwaun Wrgan, after being defeated by Robert Fitz-Hamon, is said to have
lost his head: there is also a maen hir, or long upright stone, situated to the south of the church; and the remains of
a Roman encampment, where fragments of military weapons and several coins have been found, are discernible. The average
annual expenditure for the support of the poor is £88. 15.