BRECKNOCKSHIRE, a county (inland) of SOUTH WALES, bounded on the north by Radnorshire, on the west by the counties of
Cardigan and Carmarthen, on the south by Glamorganshire and the western part of Monmouthshire, and on the east by the
English counties of Monmouth and Hereford: it extends from 51° 45' to 52° 17' (N. Lat.), and from 3° 2' to 3° 50'
(W.Lon.); and comprises an area of about .eight hundred square miles, or five hundred and twelve thousand statute acres.
The population, in 1831, was 48,325. At the period of the conquest of Britain by the Ro, mans, this county formed part of
the territories of the Silures, a people who pre-eminently distinguished them, selves, under their leader, the celebrated
Caractacus, in the strenuous opposition which they manifested to the progress of the Roman forces under °storing Scapula:
the scene of their struggles was the country of the Ordovices, now almost wholly included in North Wales; and the Romans,
though at last victorious, do not appear to have penetrated into this quarter, ntil after the defeat of Caractacus. Mr.
Theophilus Jones, the historian of Brecknockshire, considers that the Roman military works, of which there are still some
vestiges, were for the most part formed during the lifetime of Ostorius: but it does not appear that the Silures were
totally subdued until after the arrival of Julius Frontinus, about the year 70. The Romans had two principal stations
within the limits of the county, one called the Caer or Caer Bannau, about three miles from Brecknock, and the other, also
called the Gaer, situated near Llanvihangel Cwm dit, in the hundred of Crickhowel: the principal road was the Via Julia
Montana, a branch of the Via Julia Maritima, which traversed the county from east to west, and other vicinal ways in
conuexion with the stations. Nothing relating peculiarly to this county is recorded until after the withdrawal of the
Roman forces from Britain, when the country became divided into petty states, each governed by its own prince, or regains:
of these, with some little variation from the limits of the modern county, this territory formed one, under the name of
Brycheiniog, derived from one of its first independent princes, called Brychan, and since altered by the Welsh into
Brecheiniawg and Brecheinog, and by the English into Brecknock and Brecon. Brychan is chiefly distinguished in the Welsh
annals for the number, learning, and piety of his children, many of whom became the tutelar saints of the parochial
churches, and thus imparted their names to the respective parishes. The entire family of this sovereign was designated in
the British triads as one of the three holy families in Britain. After his death, his dominions were divided, according to
the custom of inheritance among the Britons, resembling the gavelkind of the Saxons, between his two sons, Cledwyn and
Rhain, who, unlike all the rest, bad not entered into holy orders; but Caradog Vreichvras, or Caradoc with the Brawny
Arm, grandson of Brychan, who lived near the close of the fifth, or in the early part of the sixth, century, re-united the
whole principality under his government, and is distinguished in Welsh history as one of the knights who fought under the
British hero, Arthur: this chieftain appears also to have extended his dominion over the territory called Ferregs, lying
between the rivers Severn and Wye, and including the present county of Radnor. Caradog was succeeded by his son Cawrdav,
called in the Welsh triads one of the three prime ministers of Britain; but little is known of his descendants and
successors until the reign of Teithwalch, about the beginning of the eighth century, which is memorable for the first
invasion of South Wales by the Saxons, under the command of Ethelbald, King of Mercia, between whom and the Britons a
sanguinary battle was fought at Carno, in the parish of Llangattock: this event is placed by the Welsh chronicle, Brat y
Tywysogion, in the year 728. Teithwalch was succeeded by his son Tegyd, whose territories, however, were considerably
diminished by the conquest of the principal and most fruitful parts of Ferregs by Offa, the Anglo-Saxon monarch, who
separated them from the rest of the British territories by constructing that huge work called Offa's Dyke, extending
northward from the river Wye, in Herefordshire, across the marches. The next prince of Brycheiniog, of whom history
relates any thing worthy of notice, was called Hwgan, a name Latinized into Hugauus, who, determining to embrace the
opportunity afforded him by the troops of Edward the Elder being fully engaged in repelling a formidable invasion of the
Danes, mustered all his forces, and led them against the Saxon frontier; but being unexpectedly opposed by a powerful
army, under the command of Edward's sister, the heroic Ethelfleda, he was overthrown in a sanguinary engagement; and
Ethelfleda, taking advantage of her success, advanced with the utmost expedition into the heart of Hwgan's dominions,
stormed his castle, and carried off his wife and her attendants: the situation of this castle, called by the Anglo-Saxon
historians Brecenanmere, is not now precisely known, but has been conjectured to be at Blaenllyvni, near Savaddan lake.
The British prince fled to the camp of the Danes at Derby, where he fell in attempting to defend the town against the
assaults of the Saxon forces. Hwgan was succeeded by his son Dryfin, whose territories were successfully invaded by
Athelstan, the Saxon sovereign; and he was not only compelled to pay tribute, but even deprived of what remained to him of
the country of Ferregs. About the year 982, Brycheiniog was invaded by Alfred Earl of Mercia, who laid waste nearly the
whole country, but was at last routed with the aid of the other Welsh princes. In the reign of Dryfin also, about the year
944, a survey was made of the territory of Brycheiniog, in common with the rest of Wales, by order of Hywel Dda, who had
established supreme authority over all Wales, and who, in the division of this sovereignty among his three sons, included
this district in the kingdom of Dinevawr, or South Wales. The hundred of Buellt, or Builth, however, seems not to have
formed part of the territory of Bmcknock at this time, but to have been included in the kingdom of Powys. Bleddyn ab
Maenarch, the grandson of Dryfin, who married the sister of Rlis ab Tewdwr, the reigning sovereign of South Wales, was the
last British prince of Brycheiniog. Rh fps ab Tewdwr, according to the conjecture of Mr. Jones (which, however, so far as
concerns that chieftain, is at variance with that held by most other writers, who are of opinion that RhS's was slain at
the battle of Hirwaun), having been defeated in the northern part of Glamorganshire, chiefly by the prowess of the Norman
mercenaries under Robert Fitz-Hamon, fled with the small remains of his adherents to the territory of his brother-in-law
Bleddyn; while the success of the Normans in seizing the county of Glamorgan for themselves encouraged others of their
countrymen, under the sanction of their sovereign, to whom they were to pay homage for the territories thus acquired, to
undertake similar conquests. One of these was Bernard Newmarch, who, about the year 1088, with a large body of followers,
entered the territories of Bleddyn, whom, with his brother-in-law, he defeated in a great battle fought near Caer
Bannau, on the banks of the Usk, the issue of which was gloriously favourable to the Normans, Bleddyn having been slain
gallantly defending himself in his own residence, and Rh9s ab Tewdwr, according to the authority above-mentioned, in the
retreat. Bernard, having thus obtained entire possession of the ancient principality of Brycheiniog, erected it into a
lordship marcher, apportioning the greater part among his followers, but reserving to himself the largest allotment, with
the feudal superiority . over the whole: he also granted the sons of Bleddyn several portions of land for their support,
and treated Gwrgan, the eldest of them, with much respect; and, with the view of acquiring some degree of popularity, the
politic baron espoused a member of a Welsh royal family, named Nest, granddaughter of Grufydd ab Llewelyn, Prince of North
Wales. He destroyed Caer Bannau, the ancient capital of his newly-acquired province, and with the materials erected the
castle of Brecknock, which he constituted his residence, and which thenceforward continued to be the seat of government
for the lordship. Among the last acts of his life was a praiseworthy endeavour to atone for the deeds of violence,
atrocity, and plunder, which he had perpetrated, by ample donations to religious houses: the year of his death is not
recorded, but that event is supposed to have happened in the reign of Henry I., and his remains Were interred in the
cloisters of Gloucester cathedral. Mabel, the eldest of the sons born to him by his wife, was disinherited, in consequence
of the latter declaring him, in the presence of Henry I., to be the offspring of adultery; and Sybil, his eldest daughter,
whom her mother acknowledged to be legitimate, succeeded to the lordship of Brecknock, which she conveyed by marriage to
Milo Fitz-Walter, constable of Gloucester,who, for his eminent services in support of the cause of the Empress Matilda,
was afterwards created Earl of Hereford. He was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son Roger, who to his
patrimonial inheritance of this lordship added the lands of Ewyas in Herefordshire, by marriage with the daughter and
heiress of Payne Fitz-John, lord of that territory. This nobleman died without issue in 1156, and his possessions were
inherited by his brothers William, Henry, and Mabel, successively: on the death of the last-named the lordship of
Brecknock and some other possessions devolved, by right of his second sister, to her husband, Philip de Breos, or Braiosa,
lord of Builth,whose family had accompanied the Norman Conqueror to England, and who died soon after the accession of
Henry II., leaving all his possessions to his son William. The latter has acquired an inglorious distinction in history
for his atrocious cruelty, first in treacherously murdering some Welsh chieftains, whom he had invited to an entertainment
at his castle of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire; and secondly, for a similar outrage on the person of Trahaern Vychan, a
descendant of Gwrgan ab Bleddyn, and a man of great influence in the territory of Brecknock, who, coming to hold a
friendly conference with William, agreeably to summons, was seized by order of the latter, fastened to a horse's tail, and
in this ignominious manner dragged through the streets of Brecknock, after which he was beheaded., and his body hung up by
the feet. The former act of cruelty was avenged by the men of Gwent on the castle of Abergavenny; and the punishment for
the latter was undertaken by Gwenwynwyn, Prince of Powys, who invaded de Breos' territories; but the blow fell upon a
district included in the present county of Radnor. The latter part of this baron's life was passed in continual contention
with King John, and on his death, in 1212, his estates escheated to the king, by whom a great part of the Brecknockshire
lands was granted to Peter Fitz-Herbert, grandson of Milo Fitz-Walter; but the family of de Breos recovered the whole of
its Welsh possessions through the exertions of Giles Bishop of Hereford, its chief representative, on whose death they
devolved to his brother, Reginald de Breos, who married Gwladis, daughter of Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, and leagued
with his father-in-law against the English monarch. King John chastised the defection of his vassal by marching an army
into his territories, and burning his castles of Radnor and Hay; and Henry III., on his accession to the throne,
succeeded in dissolving the confederacy, by engaging to restore to de Breos the English possessions of his family, on the
condition of his returning to his allegiance. Rh$s son of Rh$s Vychan, a chieftain of South Wales, in company with his
brother, immediately attacked Reginald's possessions in Builth, where they were soon joined by Llewelyn, who, highly
incensed at his kinsman's defection, led a powerful force towards the town of Brecknock, which he threatened with
destruction, but spared at the supplication of the inhabitants. De Breos, however, fearing the effects of his resentment,
became again reconciled to him, an act which once more involved him with the king, who deprived him of the lordships of
Blaenllyvni and Talgarth, which were a second time given to Peter Fitz-Herbert. Reginald died in 1228, leaving his honours
and the remaining Welsh estates to his eldest son, William de Breos, who was one of the foremost to aid the English
monarch in a formidable expedition into North Wales, in the course of which he was taken prisoner by the Welsh, and,
according to the Welsh Chronicle, Brat y Tywysogion, purchased his release by the surrender of the castle and territory of
Builth, in addition to the payment of a large sum of money. It appears, nevertheless, that he was put to an ignominious
death by Llewelyn, who subsequently laid waste his territories with fire and sword, passing by Brecknock and Caerleon into
Glamorganshire, and soon after his return made an attack on the castle of Brecknock, which proving unsuccessful, he fired
the town, and then withdrew into North Wales. On the death of William de Breos the lordship passed, by marriage with his
second daughter Eleanor, to Humphrey de Bohun, sixth Earl of Hereford of that name, whose castles of Hay and Brecknock
were taken by Prince Edward, son of Henry III., in 1265: about this period, too, the territory of Builth appears to have
been in the hands of the Welsh, as, in the early part of the reign of Llewelyn ab Grufydd, Prince of North Wales, it was
taken by that leader from Rhys Vychan, and given to his brother, Meredydd ab RhYs. On the death of Humphrey de Bohun, the
lordship descended to his son Humphrey, who now became Earl of Hereford and Essex, and was involved in a quarrel with the
Earl of Gloucester, concerning the exact limits of their domains (those of the latter nobleman in Glamorgan adjoining the
lordship of Brecknock), the settlement of which King Edward I. took upon himself, commanding both parties to postpone
further hostilities until he should investigate the affair and give his decision. But the tenants and vassals of the Earl
of Gloucester entered on the lands of the Earl of Hereford, and were carrying off some cattle and other plunder, when the
vassals of the latter assailed them and recovered the stolen property. The king, on being informed of these outrages,
issued special commissions to examine into the conduct of the contending parties, the result of which was a decree,
ordaining that the liberties of Glamorgan and Brecknock should be forfeited to the crown, during the lives of their actual
possessors, who were commanded by the king himself to .be imprisoned during his pleasure; but these sentences were soon
commuted for the payment, by the Earl of Gloucester, of ten thousand marks, and by the Earl of Hereford of one thousand.
Although the latter nobleman appears in English history as one of the most powerful and spirited barons of his time, yet
none of the other remarkable events of his life have any particular relation to his lordship of Brecknock: the northern
part of the county was, however, in his time the scene of one of the most tragical events related in Welsh history.
Llewelyn ab Grufydd, the last native Welsh chieftain who wore the ensigns of royalty, having been engaged in ravaging the
territories of the King of England's friends in Cardiganshire, directed his course towards Builth, in the vicinity of
which town he had engaged to meet some of his allies of the neighbouring country, to concert measures for their future
proceedings. Having arrived on the banks of the Edwy, there is every reason to suppose that he was betrayed by the very
persons with whom he came to consult; for, after departing from his forces, they were attacked by John Gifford and Sir
Edmund Mortimer, at the head of a body of troops from Herefordshire. On this unexpected onset, Llewelyn fled to Builth,
whence, failing in his attempt to procure aid from the garrison, he ad. vanced westward up the Tryon, on the south side,
for about three miles, where he crossed that river by a bridge called Pont y Coed, and stationed the few troops that
accompanied him on an eminence on the north side of the river, to defend the pass. The English, foiled in their attempt on
the bridge, crossed the stream by a ford at a short distance, and, coming behind the Welsh, attacked them unawares. By the
latter they were received with a shower of arrows and other missiles, which was returned by a body of archers placed among
the English horse: on the English gaining the summit the armies closed, and the action was maintained on both sides for
more than three hours, with great valour and obstinacy, until at length the Welsh were entirely defeated and put to
flight, leaving two thousand men, a third of their number, dead upon the field. The prince himself was closely pursued by
Adam de Franc-ton, an English knight, who, seeing him to be a Welshman, and not knowing his quality, plunged his spear
into his body; and then rejoined the ranks of his comrades. The heat of the battle being over, Adam de Francton returned
to strip the person whom he had wounded, and, recognising him as the Welsh prince, cut off his head, after he had breathed
his last, and presented it to the king, who was then residing in the abbey of Aberconway. The day of Llewelyn's death is
stated to have been the 10th of December, 1282, at which time the ground was covered with snow; and the spot is still
called Cevn y Bedd, or Cevn Bedd Llewelpt, "the Ridge of Llewelyn's Grave." A traditionary account of this event is
preserved by the inhabitants of Builth, and its neighbourhood, which differs in some particulars from that given by the
historians. The former, owing to their alleged base conduct on this occasion, in not affording that shelter to the Welsh
prince which they were able to do, have ever since borne the reproachful appellation of Bradwyr Buellt, or the "traitors
of Builth." Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, was succeeded by his son of the same name, who distinguished himself in
opposition to the government of that weak monarch Edward II., and joined in the rebellion of several of the lords marcher,
to oppose the claims of the younger Spencer to the lordship of Gower, in Glamorganshire: he was killed in the battle of
Boroughbridge, in 1321, and his Welsh property, being confiscated, was given by the king to the younger Spencer, on whose
execution, however, it again reverted to the family of de Bohun, in the person of John de Bohun, after whose death it was
successively inherited by his brother and his nephew, both named Humphrey de Bohnn, the latter the son of John's brother
William. Humphrey de Bohun left issue two daughters, the youngest of whom, Mary, espoused Henry Earl of Derby, afterwards
King Henry IV., upon whom was settled the reversion of the lordship of Brecknock after the decease of the Countess Dowager
of Hereford, which by this means became vested in the crown. This county, amongst others, suffered from the devastations
made in South Wales, during the reign of Henry IV., by that renowned Welsh chieftain, Owain Glyndwr, to whom is ascribed
the final destruction of the castle of Hay. Shortly after the death of the Countess Dowager of Hereford, Anne, daughter of
Eleanor de Bohan, the eldest daughter of the last Humphrey de Bohun, who was married first to Thomas of Woodstock, BRE
sixth son of Edward III., and afterwards to Edmund Earl of Stafford, but was at this time a widow, petitioned the king for
that portion of her grandmother's possessions which rightfully belonged to her, and amongst those relinquished to her and
her son was the lordship of Brecknock. She died in 1439, and her inheritance passed to her son, Henry Earl of Buckingham,
afterwards, in the 23rd of Henry VI., created Duke of Buckingham, who is chiefly distinguished in the Welsh annals for his
tyrannical treatment of the tenants of this lordship. - This nobleman was slain fighting on the side of the Lancastrians,
at the battle of Northampton, in 1460; and his only son Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, having previously fallen at the
battle of St. Alban's, he was succeeded in the dukedom of Buckingham, and all his other honours and estates, by his
grandson Henry, who being at that time in his minority, Sir William Herbert, afterwards created Earl of Pembroke, was
appointed steward of the lordship of Brecknock, and entrusted with the management of the duke's other possessions in
Wales. After he had attained his majority, this duke became, on the death of Edward IV., one of the most staunch partisans
of Richard III.; but that usurper, having gained the object of his ambition, refused to fulfil his engagements with him,
in consequence of which the duke retired from court, determined on revenge. Arriving at his castle of Brecknock, he
released from confinement Morton, Bishop of Ely, whom Richard, on account of his known attachment to the cause of the
murdered princes, the sons of the late King Edward, had committed a close prisoner to his charge. Morton immediately
departed for the continent, to inform the Earl of Richmond of Buckingham's designs in his favour, and for the dethronement
of the usurper, and at the same time to concert measures for the execution of their enterprise, while Buckingham proceeded
with the necessary preparations at home. The latter speedily raised a large body of troops from his lordship and other
domains in this quarter, and commenced his march towards Shrewsbury, to join the partisans of the same cause assembled
there. The unfortunate issue of this expedition is well known: the Severn, being swollen by a prodigious flood, delayed
his advance, and his troops, probably ill-provided, soon began to desert in such numbers, as to oblige him to seek safety
in flight and concealment; but being betrayed into the power of the sanguinary Richard, he was immediately beheaded at
Salisbury, without even the form of trial, and his titles and estates were forfeited to the crown. Richmond, with a small
body of French troops, landing soon after at Milford Haven, and being joined by RhYs ab Thomas, the most opulent and
influential subject in South Wales, the latter, according to preconcerted measures, had the beacons lighted, to give
notice to his friends of the arrival of the earl, and pursued his line of march through Carmarthenshire and
Brecknockshire, his standard being joined by great numbers in every part of his progress. On reaching Brecknock, RhYs
found it necessary to make some selection from among the multitude that had collected around him: he first of all formed
a chosen body of two thousand horse, to be commanded by himself; and next, a corps of five hundred infantry, which he
placed under the command of his younger brothers David and John, for ;the protection of his own estates, and the security
of the persons and property of those who had declared in favour of the earl: the rest be dismissed with acknowledgments
for their readiness to serve under him, and then proceeded with his two thousand chosen men towards Shrewsbury, to rejoin
the earl, who had taken a different route. On the accession of the latter to the throne of England, by the title of Henry
VII., he restored all the possessions and honours of the late Duke of Buckingham, including the lordship of Brecknock, to
the family of that nobleman, in the person of his son Edward, who was afterwards created constable of England, and was the
last who held that high office. On the execution of this nobleman for treason, in the reign of Henry VIII., the dukedom of
Buckingham became extinct, and the lordship of Brecknock, with all the territories and revenues appertaining to it, again
escheated to the crown, in whose possession it thenceforward remained for a considerable period. This county is one of
those formed, by the act of the 27th of Henry VIII., out of the marches, or intermediate border lands between England and
Wales; at which time also it was enacted that, in the whole of Wales, law and justice should be administered in the same
form as in England; while the lords marcher, who had before exercised an almost regal authority within their respective
domains, were reduced nearly to the condition of ordinary manorial lords. At the commencement of the civil war of the
seventeenth century, a troop of horse was raised by Mr. Jenkin Jones, of this county, at his own expense, in support of
the parliamentarian cause. In 1617, the lordship of Brecknock was assigned on lease by James I. to Sir Francis Bacon, Sir
John Daccombe, and others, in trust, for the use of Prince Charles, afterwards King Charles I., who, in the seventh year
of his reign, conveyed the fee to trustees for the use of Sir William Russell, reserving to the crown only a fee-farm rent
of forty-four pounds and one halfpenny per annum. Sir William Russell sold his interest to the Earl of Pembroke, and that
nobleman disposed of it to William Morgan, Esq., of Dderw in Brecknockshire, on whose death it was inherited by his
daughter Blanch, who conveyed it by marriage to William Morgan, Esq., of Tredegar, in Monmouthshire, in whose family it
has ever since remained, being at present in the possession of Sir Charles Morgan, Bart. The lordship, or manor, of
Brecknock is that part of the county which, since the erection of the castle of Brecknock, has been continually appendant
to that fortress, and comprises nearly the whole of the hundred of Merthyr, or Merthyr-Cynog, that part of the parish of
Llywel which is situated to the north of the river Usk, and the parishes of Llanspythid, St. David, and Cantrev, to the
river Cynrig. The lordship of the Great Forest, in the south-western part of the county, is also held on lease from the
crown by Sir Charles Morgan, together with the lordship of Brecknock, but under somewhat different circumstances. The
lordship of the Great Forest, or at least a great part of it, having been acquired by the successors of Bernard Newmarch
in the lordship of Brecknock, subsequently to the total subjugation of Wales by Edward I., never formed part of the
lordship marcher, but was held by the lords of Brecknock, like all other territories in Wales, except the marches, as a
fief under the crown of England. While these possessions continued in the same hands, they were properly called conjointly
the great lordship of Brecknock; but after the attainder of the last Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, when they were
dissevered, the application of this term to either became erroneous. The lordship of the Forest comprises a much more
extensive tract than the lordship of Brecknock, and should rather be called the manor of the Great Forest, or of the Great
Forest of Devynock, within the county of Brecknock. In the 10th of George I., this manor was demised by the Prince of
Wales to William Morgan, of Tredegar, Esq., to hold for twenty-one years, at the yearly rent of £20. 6. 8.: this lease has
since been constantly renewed, and under a late grant from the crown is held.by Sir Charles Morgan, Bart. This county is
in the diocese of St. David's, and province of Canterbury, and is comprised in the arch-deaconry of Brecknock, forming the
four deaneries of Builth, and the first, second, and third parts of that of Brecknock, and part of that of Hay: the
number of parishes is sixty-six, of which twenty-four are rectories, eighteen vicarages, and the rest perpetual curacies.
For purposes of civil government it is divided into the six hundreds of Builth, Crickhowel, Devynock, MerthyrCynog,
Pencelly, and Talgarth. It contains the borough and market town of Brecknock, or Brecon; and the market towns of Builth,
Crickhowel, and Hay. One knight is returned to parliament for the shire, and one representative for the borough of
Brecknock. The county is in the South Wales circuit: the assizes and quarter sessions are held at Brecknock, where stands
the county gaol and house of correction. There are forty-three acting magistrates. The parochial rates raised in the
county, for the year ending March 25th, 1830, amounted to £20,928, and the expenditure to £20,651, of which £.17,450 was
applied to the relief of the poor. Nearly the whole county is occupied by several ranges of mountains, with their
diverging hills, intersected in various directions by fertile and romantic valleys; and its outskirts on every side
consist for the most part of lofty and barren mountains, excepting only where it is separated from Radnorshire on the
northeast by the river Wye. In the lower parts of the county the less elevated hills are cultivated to a considerable
distance up their sides, and some of them even to their summits; but the higher mountains, more especially those in the
northern part of it, are in general uncultivated, and of little value, except as sheep-walks. The principal mountain chain
is that called, through a considerable part of its extent, the Black Mountains, which commences on the western border of
the county, in the two conspicuous summits called Bannau Sir Gaer, or the Carmarthenshire Beacons, and thence stretches
eastward across the entire breadth of Brecknockshire, terminating in Monmouthshire on the southern side of the Usk, below
the town of Crickhowel, which is situated near the south-eastern confines of this county. The westernmost of these two
heights, which, viewed from the surrounding country, are remarkably picturesque objects, is in Carmarthenshire, and is
separated by a deep and narrow chasm from the other, which is in Brecknockshire, and of rather superior elevation: the
latter is sometimes called Trecastle Beacon, from the neighbouring village of Trecastle, and rises to the height of two
thousand five hundred and ninety-six feet above the level of the sea. But the most elevated summits of the chain, and the
highest points of South Wales, are two contiguous peaks situated about five miles to the south west of the town of
Brecknock, which rise two thousand eight hundred and sixty-two feet above the sea, and, towering above the lofty hills
which compose their base, form a striking and even sublime object from very distant parts of South Britain, and command a
prospect of vast extent and variety: These heights are sometimes designated, in the singular number, the Van, or Beacon ;
but more commonly, and with greater propriety, are called Bannau Brecheiniog, or the Brecknockshire Beacons: they are
also known to the Welsh by the name of Ceder Arthur, or Arthur's Chair. On the summit is a small stagnant pool, which
wholly evaporates in seasons of drought; and at some distance below, under their northern declivity, lies a small lake,
about a mile in circumference, called LVn Cwm Llwch, which is the source of the small river Terrell, and contains great
numbers of the lacerta aquatica, or water-lizard: by the peasantry of the surrounding country this pool is believed to be
of unfathomable depth. That peak of the Carmarthenshire beacons which is situated within the bounds of Brecknockshire has
a similar lake, called Ll3n y Van, which is the source of the Usk, and is of much larger extent, being upwards of a mile
in length: its waters have a dark and gloomy aspect, and contain no fish. From the upper end of the Vale of Tawe the
chain of heights, including Bettws mountain, extends south-westward into Glamorganshire; and the higher parts of all
these mountains, being too elevated, steep, and rocky for cultivation, form a vast extent of wastes, which is also
continued, with the same characteristic features, but gradually diminishing in altitude and extent, from the border of
this county, through that of Carmarthen, towards the mouth of the Towy. Southward from the Black Mountains, beyond a
narrow range of limestone mountains, of which the lofty Cribarth, a mile or two above the head of the Swansea canal, is
the most distinguished summit, the rest of the county is formed of the high, steep, and barren hills of the great coal and
iron tract of South Wales: the limestone hills above mentioned, in the eastern part of the county, form a lofty parapet
on the southern side of the Vale of Usk, extending as far westward as the Llangynider rocks. At Talgarth, approaching the
eastern confines of the county, rises another mountain chain, called in Brecknockshire the Black Mountains, and in Welsh
Mynydd y Gader, or "the chair mountain ;" but extending eastward into Herefordshire, it is there commonly designated as
the Hatterell hills: the loftiest summit, second in altitude only to the Brecknockshire Beacons, is called Y Gader Vawr,
or "the great chair." The third'and last mountain range, requiring particular notice, is that called the Eppynt hills,
which extends with a tolerably uniform outline, and in a direction from west to east, from the north-eastern confines of
the county of Carmarthen, where they are connected with the great chain separating the vales of the Towy and the Teivy, to
Lyswen, on the banks of the Wye, and separates nearly the whole of the hundred of Builth from the rest of the county: the
mountain called Drugarn, near the confines of Cardiganshire, to the north-west, rises to the height of two thousand and
seventy-one feet above the level of the sea. The Eppynt hills are connected with the Plinlimmon mountains, on the south -
western border of Montgomeryshire, by a transverse cluster of mountains extending several miles in every direction, and
constituting the most dreary wastes of the counties of Brecknock, Radnor, and Cardigan: they form no regular chain, those
above mentioned, and, like the other mountain wastes, can be turned to little profit, except as summer pastures for almost
innumerable flocks of small hardy sheep. Various chains of hills of lower elevation diverge in different directions from
the several principal ranges, but none of them are remarkable for their extent. The principal lake, and one of the largest
in South Wales, is L1P1 Savaddan, a few miles eastward from the town of Brecknock: this, sometimes also called Llangorse
mere and Brecknock mere, is about three miles long and one broad: its general depth is from three to four yards, though in
some places from twelve to fifteen yards; and its principal fish are, pike, sometimes weighing upwards of thirty lb. ;
perch, from a few ounces to three lb. weight; and eels of such an extraordinary size, as to have given rise to the adage,
Cyhyd a llysywen Savaddan, " as long as a Savaddan eel:" this otherwise fine sheet of water is, however, bordered on the
south side by low marshy grounds, overgrown with rushes and other aquatic plants of no value. The vales, owing to their
inland situation, are subject to a greater degree of cold and frost in winter, and of heat in summer, than those of most
parts of the principality. Opening inland also, and the south-western vapours from the ocean being frequently arrested and
dissipated by the western mountains, their climate is consequently drier, the grain which is cultivated on them fills
better in the ear, and the arable lands are not so apt to be overrun with natural grasses. But on the mountains the
climate is cold, wet, and tempestuous, and the loftier elevations are often capped with snow until late in the spring. The
climate of the slate hills of the hundred of Builth combines, with its unfertile soil, to render them the most desolate
parts of the county. The wheat harvest in the vales generally commences in the first week of August; sometimes in the
last week of July. No county in the principality contains a greater variety of soils than Brecknockshire. The northern
part of it, lying beyond a line drawn from the banks of the Wye, below the influx of the Radnorshire river Edow, obliquely
across the Eppynt hills to Cwm y Dwr, on the road between Trecastle and Llandovery, on the border of Carmarthenshire, is
included in the great slate, or rather shale, tract of South Wales: here peat generally occupies the hollows, and
sometimes the slopes, of the hills, under which, however, clay generally abounds near the surface, rendering the ground
wet, and unproductive of any but the poorest herbage. The banks of the Wye and the Irvon, nevertheless, are composed of
land of a much richer quality, where a sound loam abounds to the depth of from one to six feet. The soils of the coal
tract, which includes a narrow district along the whole southern side of Brecknockshire, are for the most part of the same
poor quality as those of the uplands of the slate district, having in like manner clays near the surface, which do not
absorb the water, and consequently render them very wet: their natural grasses are also the same. The clayey soils of the
latter district are capable of much greater amelioration in the progress of agriculture, owing to their being impregnated
with a fine silex, which renders them friable under the action of the atmosphere, and to their proximity to lime. The
middle part of the county is wholly occupied by soils which derive an uniformly red colour from a substratum of red sand-
stone, and communicate it to the water precipitated upon them by every heavy shower. The red lands are bounded on the
north by the slate tract and the river Wye, on the south by a line extending from east to west in the latitude of Glyn
Collwyn to the south of the town of Brecknock, and on the east and west only by the confines of the county: their
breadth, from north to south, from Llangynog chapel, near Builth, to Glyn Collwyn, is about nineteen miles. The Usk and
most of its tributaries have their sources in this red tract; and their deposits, being originally derived from the red
sand-stone, have rendered the soil of the Vale of Usk, although fertile, of a very light sandy texture: however, by good
husbandry, the crops of grain are abundant, but those of hay, in dry summers, are extremely small on its meadow lands. The
lightness of the soil of this vale, in the year 1810, subjected its wheat crops to alarming depredations from the pupa of
the cockchafer, more particularly in that part of it which extends from Brecknock to the south-eastern border of the
county; and these insects still appear occasionally, in detached spaces, in soils favourable to their settlement. The
soils of the side-land declivities are generally of a stronger staple, and, having more argil in their composition than
that of the vale, produce, under good tillage, greater crops of grain. As the Wye and its principal tributaries in the
higher part of its course flow for many miles through the shale tract, their waters, in time of flood, bear with them
argillaceous particles, which improve the staple of the red sandy soils through which they pass for so many miles before
quitting the principality: hence the superior tenacity and productiveness of the lands of the vale traversed by that
river below the town of Builth. The level part of the hundred of Talgarth, from Savaddan lake to Aberllyvni, has been said
to derive the superior quality of its soil for the culture of wheat from a tenacious sediment peculiar to the tract, and
the deposition of which it is difficult to account for in the ordinary course of nature. The more elevated parts of this
red tract, which comprise the Beacons of Brecknockshire and Carmarthenshire, are far superior in soil and produce to those
of the slate district, and sheep brought to them from the latter, having their wool kempy, or intermingled with long
coarse hairs, soon lose their kemps; and vice versd. The soil of the narrow limestone district, extending quite across
the county between the red soil and coal tracts, is for the most part rendered very arid by its elevation, especially on
the northern side, its want of depth, and the absorbent quality of the substratum. Consequently, white clover, a plant
natural to limestone soils, is never found in the more elevated regions; but lower down, in the vicinities of Vainor and
Penderyn, the soil is so favourable to the growth of this sweet grass, that, after being ploughed for a crop of grain, in
the following year it spontaneously produces an abundant crop of hay almost wholly composed of it. Mr. Clark, in his
agricultural report of Brecknockshire, published by the Board of Agriculture in 1794, estimates that nearly two-thirds
of it were then enclosed; and in these enclosures the " good land" formed of the county, the "middling land" rather
more than onefifth, and " poor mountainous land" another fifth. Since the date of that publication, however, this
proportion has somewhat increased, nearly all the commons on the low lands having been successively enclosed. The systems
of agriculture are of course very various on such a variety of soils and in stich different situations, and, though
frequently exhibiting considerable skill, are in many instances very defective. All the ordinary kinds of grain are
cultivated, as also are peas, vetches, turnips, and potatoes. The produce of wheat on the poorer soils of the slate tract
is extremely small, being even somewhat more on the poorest cultivated soils of the red lands: though the crops on the
uplands of Llywel and the Eppynt hills are frequently not more than from seven to ten bushels per acre: the smaller
valleys of this district, namely those of the rivers Hondda, Esgair, Bran, &c., generally produce from fifteen to eighteen
bushels per acre; the Vale of Usk from seventeen to twenty-one bushels; and the flat part of the hundred of Talgarth,
forming an opening through the hills between the Vales of Usk and Wye, and the richer parts of the romantic valley of the
Wye itself, from above Llangoed castle to the town of Hay, from eighteen to twenty-three bushels per acre, though
sometimes thirty. On the uplands the produce of barley varies from nine to twenty bushels per acre; on the strongest
soils it averages from fifteen to twenty-three bushels, in the Vale of Wye from twenty to thirty, and in the Vale of Usk
something more than twenty. The cultivation of oats is extensive only on the highest cultivated lands, where other grain
would seldom ripen: the produce varies from fifteen to twenty bushels per acre. Rye is but little grown. The reaping-hook
and sickle are the instruments in common use for cutting corn: the cradled scythe is occasionally employed. Although the
amount of arable lands is greater than in most Welsh counties, yet the exports of grain are very inconsiderable, and those
wholly to the collieries and iron-manufactories of the adjoining counties of Monmouth and Glamorgan, excepting only small
quantities of barley, which are sometimes conveyed by means of the Newport canal to the Bristol market. Few peas are sown
in the Vale of Wye, or on the stronger soils of the hundred of Talgarth; but the Vale of Usk affords excellent crops of
both white and grey peas, the produce being generally from fifteen to twenty-five bushels per acre. Potatoes are most
extensively cultivated on the southern side of the county, in and near the coal district. In the lower part of the Vale of
Wye, in this county, are several extensive hop-yards, under similar cultivation to those of the neighbouring English
counties. The most common artificial grasses are clover and ryegrass. The enclosed grass lands, which are of very
considerable extent, are also of various quality: those of the Vale of Usk, from above Brecknock to Buckland House, and
from below Bwlch Arllwys to the border of Monmouthshire, present pastures which, owing to the lightness of their soil,
have less richness than beauty. The produce of the natural meadows, except in some peculiarly favoured situations on the
banks of the Wye and the Usk, is no where luxuriant; but on many farms great pains are taken to increase their fertility
by manures and by irrigation. Lime is extensively employed as a manure in the southern and south-eastern parts of the
county, where it is conveniently obtained from the limestone strata hereafter mentioned, being burned in the more
easterly districts with the slack, or refuse, of the running and coking coal, and westward of the Neath river with culm,
which is the refuse of the neighbouring mines of stone coal. Braes is a manure peculiar to the coal district, consisting
of ashes.and coal dust, the refuse of the coking hearths, where coal is charred for the use of the blast furnaces of the
iron-works. Ashes of all kinds are also extensively employed in the vicinities of the ironworks and of the towns. Most of
the ploughs in common use are large and heavy, being about thirteen feet and a half long, with an acute pointed share, a
straight mould-board, from three to three and a half feet long, and a chwelyd, or round staff of wood, gradually rising
from the base and gradually projecting from the mouldboard, to turn over the plit. The Rotherham plough is also very
common, and is here called the Whitchurch plough, though sometimes the Crickhowel plough, the latter town having a long-
established manufactory of implements of this kind. Carts and waggons are the most common agricultural vehicles in most
parts of the county; but in the more mountainous regions the Welsh car, or sledge, drawn by one horse, is still used. The
usual teams in tillage consist of four or five horses drawing singly, six oxen in pairs, or two pairs of oxen led by one
horse: great power is applied to the working of the heavy plough, but the lighter English ploughs are commonly drawn by a
pair of horses driven by the ploughman. The native breed of cattle is the small hardy black kind, which still occupies the
western and mountainous parts of the county, and is of the sort so prevalent in the adjoining counties of Carmarthen and
Cardigan; but the white-faced Herefordshire cattle now occupy the Vale of Usk and all its numerous ramifications, as far
as Trecastle, and the Vale of Wye, as far as the wilds of Irvon, in Builth: on the richer pastures, near the English
border, these cattle equal in excellence those of Herefordshire itself, but, advancing towards the mountains, they
gradually diminish in size. There are also various intermixtures between these two breeds. The sheep are of the small
mountain breed, and are remarkably numerous: the rams have horns, as have also some of the ewes and wethers; they have
generally white faces and legs, those of a different colour having acquired it by foreign intermixtures; their wool is
short, and its fineness varies with the soil, climate, and aspect of their walks, but in proportion as it is coarser, so
also is it longer: it is chiefly used in the manufacture of flannels, blankets, ordinary cloths, and felt hats: the
average weight of the ewes is from six to nine lb. per quarter, and that of the wethers from eight to twelve. The
instincts of these sheep are very remarkable: while fed in enclosures they have a mischievous activity, which almost
baffles human ingenuity to counteract; but when driven on the mountain wastes, their natural abodes, they continue in one
favourite spot, from which they cannot be removed without difficulty. The shepherds sometimes avail themselves of this
circumstance, where there is a right of intercommonage (which is frequently the case), to prevent a newly-introduced flock
from depasturing on the same bank, or hill, with "the old settlers: " coming to the spot at nightfall, or in the middle
of the night, they make a noise and disturbance, which is particularly disagreeable to their own flocks, as well as to the
new comersbut the latter, not being so much accustomed to the place, abandon the walk to the sole possession of its
former occupiers. The sheep are also generally considered to have a full presentiment of the approach of severe weather,
more particularly of snow storms, sometimes so fatal to them; and, a day or two before the commencement of the latter,
they are observed to avoid the ditches and other situations where drifts are likely to be formed, and have sometimes,
though seldom, been known to quit the elevated wastes entirely on such occasions, and, overleaping all fences, to descend
into the valleys. Sheep of the same untractable disposition, bred in Glamorganshire, are often sold in great numbers into
this county, where their purchasers are obliged to watch them for a considerable time with greater care than the native
flocks: the vulgar notion is, that when the wind blows from the south they recognise their native air, and immediately
meditate an escape: certain it is that, on such occasions, they may be seen standing on the highest eminences, snuffing
the gale, and then at length, if no insurmountable impediment occurs, suddenly to scour away, stopping not until they have
reached their former haunts. A few hogs are sold from this county to the interior of England. Considerable attention has
for a long period been bestowed on the breeding of good horses, both for the saddle and the plough: for agricultural
purposes pre&rence is given to various crosses between the native small breed and the Suffolk " punches." The
Brecknockshire farmers have an inclination to work oxen instead of horses, but their being generally situated at a
considerable distance from coal and lime, compels them to have at least one horse team, besides which the larger farmers
have generally two teams of oxen, which draw in yokes. Brecknockshire contains many thriving orchards in the vales, which
produce excellent cider, chiefly for home consumption. Apple trees are also sometimes planted in intermediate rows in the
hop-yards, and among forest trees on warm declivities. The natural woods of the slate and coal tracts are the same; and
rough declivities, waste corners, &c., when surrounded with fences, are soon crowded with oak, ash, and alder, the
different species predominating according to soil and aspect, but oak being by far the most abundant: the less common
native trees of these districts are birch, mountain ash, and wild cherry on the uplands, and wych-elm, aspen, sycamore,
maple, lime, and wild crab trees, in more sheltered situations. The patches of dry sandy soil, formed in some places by
the decomposition of the siliceous strata of the coal measures, also produce beech wood, which is never found indigenous
in the slate tract; but, like the various other kinds of trees above mentioned, is a natural production of the red soils,
in some places in such abundance as to have caused small tracts of them to be called Fawyddog, or beechy. The woods in the
neighbourhood of Llangoed castle are particularly extensive; and in the vicinities of Trevecca, Penpont, and Abercamlais,
are numerous Scotch firs of artificial plantation, and remarkably fine growth. Poplars sometimes attain an amazing size by
the sides of the rivers and brooks, and are more particularly numerous in the Vale of Usk. The open wastes and mountains
subject to cornmon rights occupy about one-third of the county. The principal stock upon these is sheep, with some
horned cattle and horses in summer; but the number of the latter is not considerable, the farmers not having a sufficient
stock of food for them in winter: owing to this circumstance, also, the commons in many places are capable of supporting
more than three times the amount of the stock that the parishioners have to turn upon them. Some individuals, however,
have flocks of the small mountain sheep, amounting to many thousands: in the hundred of Builth the flocks of the small
farmers vary in number, from one hundred to five hundred, and of the large farmers from one thousand to five thousand:
the sheep graziers in general pay little attention to the cultivation of their enclosed lands, which are commonly of very
small extent, obtaining most of their corn at the nearest market town. The wastes may be divided into three grand
districts, viz. First; the Talgarth Black Mountains, with their branches, on the eastern side of the county, and
connected with the Hatterell hills of Herefordshire: these mountains, which reach in this county from Hay on the Wye to
Crickhowel on the Usk, are elevated and extensive, nearly twenty thousand acres of them being claimed as sheep-walks by
the inhabitants of one parish only: their soils, resting upon red sand-stone and a narrow line of detached limestone
rocks, are productive of good herbage for sheep and young cattle, and their outskirts are susceptible of advantageous
cultivation. Secondly, the mountains, composed of limestone and red sand-stone, extending westward from the Blorenge
mountain in Monmouthshire, and including the Brecknockshire and Carmarthenshire Beacons, the most elevated western
summits of which are called the Black Mountains, probably from the dark and frowning aspect which they assume when their
covering of heath is out of bloom: some of the lower parts of these vast tracts are susceptible of agricultural
improvement, but the rest is by far too elevated, steep, and rocky for cultivation. The mountains of the coal tract, on
the southern border of the county, produce an abundance of coarse grasses, which support vast numbers of cattle and sheep.
On these and the above-mentioned range, in the south-eastern part of Brecknockshire, adjoining the counties of Glamorgan
and Carmarthen, lies the Great Forest of Brecknock, the wastes of which, by actual admeasurement, contain forty-one
thousand three hundred and twenty-four acres, and were lately sold to different purchasers by the Commissioners of Crown
Lands. The third division comprises the Eppynt hills, above described, and the dreary hills of shale to the north of them.
The former, having for the most part substrata of red sand-stone and grey mountain rock, produce better herbage for sheep
than the hills of the blue shale. The dry parts of the latter are covered with heath, or till, a hungry light mould; the
wet flats, with rushes on clay, or peat: the herbage is altogether the coarsest of any extensive tract in the county ;
and the wool of the numerous flocks of small and hardy sheep which it supports is equally coarse, being interspersed with
numerous kemps, or coarse long hairs: the improvement of these wastes by cultivation is rendered impossible by every
natural disadvantage, to which it may be added, that lime is not to be procured within a shorter distance than from thirty
to forty miles. The peaty soils found on all the wastes, except those having a limestone substratum, but to the greatest
extent on these in the northern part of the county, present in some places extensive meadows, called in Welsh rh6sydd, and
productive of a species of short hay, denominated, in the dialect of the country, gwair tads, or small hay, and which the
farmers gather for the winter support of their horned cattle: so slender and small is the blade of this grass, that, in
some cases, it cannot be removed to the homestead except in baskets, or large sheets, provided for the purpose. Coal is
the common fuel of the southern parts of the county, where it is most easily procured, and peat in the northern and north-
western districts, where coaLcan only be obtained by a tedious and difficult land-carriage, while peat of good quality is
abundant. The Brecon Agricultural Society was the first of the kind instituted in Wales, and one of the earliest in
Britain, its articles having been printed in April 1755. The geological features of Brecknockshire are striking and
interesting, and its mineral productions of great importance: these consist, for the most part, of coal, iron, limestone,
and building stones of various kinds. Beginning with the lowest rocks in geological position, the whole country to the
north of the Eppynt hills, and the bases of those hills themselves, are composed of a perishable argillaceous shale, rab,
or rock (as it is variously denominated by different writers), of no value, being scarcely fit for repairing the roads, as
a little heavy carriage and wet weather soon reduce it to its primitive clay: the strata, which are generally very thin,
dip towards every point of the compass, according to the undulations of the surface: in some places they are sufficiently
indurated to be used as flag-stones, under cover from the weather, and in the erection of buildings intended to be rough-
cast or stuccoed. Here and there they are intersected by ranges of what is commonly termed grey mountain rock, or whin-
stone, of various texture and degrees of hardness, some rocks affording excellent building stones, while others, bearing
marks of marine exuvise, and effervescing with acids, perish by the action of the atmosphere: their line of bearing is
from northeast to south-west. One of these enters Brecknockshire in crossing the Wye from Radnorshire, near the junction
of that river with the Elain, and stretches across the hundred of Builth to the river Irvon, being seen to advantage
between Llanwrtyd wells and the church of that parish: the stratification is in some places irregular, but in ,others
regular, so as to form quadrilateral columns, nine or ten feet long, and from nine to fourteen inches square, which
incline considerably to the north-west, and on that side support the argillaceous shale, or slate. About three miles
south-westward of this ledge of whin-stone is a ridge of pudding-stone, resting upon the shale, and blocks of breccia are
found in different directions. The grey mountain rock is every where covered with a more grateful soil than the
surrounding hills of blue shale. To this shale, proceeding southward, immediately succeeds the red sand-stone strata,
which sustain the great tract of red soils above described, and the northern limit of which extends from the banks of the
Wye, below the confluence .of the Edow, obliquely across the Eppynt hills, and northward from Llangynog chapel to Cam y
Dwr, on the border of Carmarthenshire: their southern boundary reaches from Llanelly, on the south of the Usk, near
Crickhowel, directly westward to the southern foot of the Carmarthenshire Beacons. Though the rocks of this tract exhibit
few anomalies, they are in themselves of three varieties; namely, the lower, the middle, and the upper strata. The stone
of the first is of a greyish blue colour, and breaks into splinters, exhibiting no particles of sand or mica, and, though
difficult to dress, makes excellent building stone. The middle stratum consists of micaceous schistus, the thinner sort of
which is converted into roofing tiles, and those from two to six inches thick into flags, milestones, &c. The interior of
the tile, or flag, is a compact sand-stone of various colours,—brown, _greenish, or grey, the cleft in the rock being
occasioned by a thickly bespangled bed of mica. The upper stratum consists simply of reddish sand-stone, which is
convertible to few uses, but which has contributed to the colouring of the soil of the whole district. The mountains of
this tract are the highest in South Wales, and are for the most part covered with vegetation, excepting only such
declivities as are perpendicularly steep, and in these situations the regularity of the stratification is strikingly
exhibited, more particularly in the rocks in the vicinity of Crickhowel. A remarkable range of the grey mountain rock
crosses the Wye into this county from Radnorshire, a little below the town of Builth, and pursues the south-westerly
direction which it had held through the shale of that county, for a considerable distance, into the red sand-stone of
Brecknockshire, passing through the parish of Crickadarn, and across the valleys of the Honda and the two Esgairs, to the
extremity of the parish of MerthyrCynog, where it terminates in the craggy intrenched height of Corn y Van. This grey
rock, and its accompanying grey soil, are about a mile and a half broad in the valley of the Honda, from the north of
Castle Madoc to Tenerddi brook, southward of Capel Isitv: this range affords excellent building stones, of which the town
of Builth and its bridge over the Wye present good specimens. The Brianog mountain, in the red soil district, near the
town of Crickhowel, contains a stratum of compact greyish freestone, of which furnace hearthstones, rollers, cisterns,
&c., are made; as also a bed of inferior sandy limestone. Along the north-western base of the red sand-stone of the Black
Mountains of Talgarth is a range of detached limestone rocks, which extends for several miles, from Llanigon to Cathedine,
near Savaddan lake, and thence turning more directly westward is found on both sides of the Vale of Usk: on the north it
appears occupying a considerable tract at Llanvillo and Llanthew, to the north-east of the town of Brecknock, and further
on, at Venni Vfich wood, and other places about two miles westward of Brecknock; while on the southern side of the vale
it is seen at Aber Cynrig, opposite to Llanhamllech, and a mile or two further westward ut Frwd-grach, opposite to
Brecknock. The lime from this stone is for the most part of a strong gritty quality, and used only in the immediate
vicinity: at the north-eastern extremity of the range it is rendered expensive by the great distance from which coal must
be brought to burn it: the lime of the Venni Vich and Aber Cynrig rocks cements in water. To the red sand-stone strata,
proceeding southward, and within a few miles of the anomalous limestone rocks just mentioned, succeeds a range of
primitive or mountain limestone, which commences on the east in the higher strata of the Blorenge mountain to the south of
Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, whence, stretching first north-westward and then westward, its bold steeps form a lofty
parapet on the southern side of the Vale of Usk, as far as Llangynider; hence, proceeding westward, it loses much of its
boldness of aspect by reposing on the base of the loftier red sand-stone of the Brecknockshire Beacons. Some of the lower
strata of this limestone are of such extraordinary thickness as to appear almost like primitive rocks: one bed at Clydach
is of a bluer colour than the others, and is used with the Aberthaw lias limestone of Glamorganshire, as a cement for
works under water. A singular section of the various strata is exhibited at the cataract of the Clydach rivulet, at PwIl y
Cwn, where the water is precipitated over a ledge of perpendicular rocks, consisting at the top of limestone for about
fourteen yards; then of a bed of a heterogeneous quality, about five feet thick, sandy, of a magnesian texture, and
difficult of calcination; next, for several feet, of beds of laminar schist, still more argillaceous; and then again of
limestone, down to the pudding-stone base which immediately rests upon the red sand-stone: in this pudding-stone are
cemented large quartz pebbles of various colours. In the parishes of Penderin and Ystradgynlais the limestone occasionally
departs from its usual regularity of stratification; and at Craig y Dinas, as if by some vast convulsion, the whole mass
of the rock is thrown southward several hundred yards into the coal measures, with which it intermingles. Between the
rivers Neath and Tawy, at Penwyll, the strata recover their regularity of bearing and inclination, which is again
disarranged to the north-west of the Tawy, where the lofty conical mountain of Cribarth seems to have been thrown further
southward than the neighbouring regularly stratified limestone rocks. About the centre of the Cribarth rock is a bed of
freestone, which has limestone both above and below it, and is traversed by fissures in every direction: there is also a
vein of fine red viscid clay. Marble, of a dark colour, is found in this limestone at Craig y N6s, near the head of the
Swansea canal, in this county. The most striking peculiarities of this limestone range are, frequent concavities in the
surface, caused by a depression of the strata; swallows, or places where streams of water are engulphed, making for some
distance a subterraneous passage; and extensive caverns, beautifully studded with crystals, stalactites, &c.: the lime
obtained from its rocks, which are quarried in many places, is of a very fine and pure quality. This mountain limestone
range forms part of the northern rim of the great mineral basin of South Wales, which contains all its treasures of coal
and iron. Next to it, proceeding southward, and resting upon it in geological position, occurs a stratum of chert, about
four feet thick, which is succeeded by a bed of limestone about forty-five feet thick, of a whiter colour than any in the
rocks above mentioned, and having a few marine exuviEe. Next occurs chert, about four feet thick; then coarse-grained
chert, inclining to burr, about sixty feet thick; to which succeeds a pudding-stone of about the same thickness, the
quartz pebbles of which are smaller and finer than those of the bed above mentioned, and upon which immediately rest
coal measures, or such substances as accompany coal without containing either iron-ore or coal worth the working: these
are about a hundred feet thick, and support a hard rock about forty-five feet thick, the base of all the coal and iron
strata, called by the Welsh colliers Quar Cymraeg, and sometimes farewell rock, as, wherever it " bassets out," it is
useless to search for coal beneath it: it is also severally denominated Carreg Wyllt, Nicholas' Rock, and Roken Cymraeg.
These various strata, and many of those of the really valuable coal measures, are exhibited to advantage along the bed of
the Clydach river, and in other deep dingles, where they are seen dipping, with a regular inclination of about one yard in
twelve, southward towards the centre of the basin. The strata of coal and iron-ore which "crop out" on the southern side
of Brecknockshire are the lowest in the basin, and occur only in the three following places: first, from the small river
Twrch across the river Tawy and the Drim Mountain to the Great Forest of Brecknock; secondly, a corner of territory from
Blaen Romney, at the junction of the three counties of Brecknock, Glamorgan, and Monmouth, to the northern side of Bryn
Oer; and thirdly, from RhSrd Ebwy and Beaufort iron-works, through Lljn y Pwll, near Tavern Maid Sur, to where this
district adjoins the Earl of Abergavenny's mineral property. The coal measures may be best described by taking a section
of the strata in the mines of Cyvarthva and Dowlais, near Merthyr-Tydvil, on the southern border of the county: in the
former are twenty-two beds of coal, varying in thickness from sixteen inches to nine feet, making a total of fifty-eight
feet eight inches; twenty-eight beds of iron mine, making a total thickness of nine feet three inches; three beds of fire
clay, being collectively seven feet four inches thick; and forty-eight beds of blue cleft, or clunch, freestone rock,
bind, &c., amounting in all to six hundred and fourteen feet six inches. In the Dowlais section of the strata are seen
thirty-six beds of coal, making a total of only fifty-six feet eight inches thick; fifty-eight strata of iron mine, being
collectively eleven feet nine inches thick; three beds of fire clay, making together a thickness of eight feet six inches;
and one hundred and eight beds of the various contiguous substances above mentioned, which together make a thickness of
five hundred and twenty-six feet seven inches. The three uppermost coal strata of the Cyvarthva section, and nearly all
those in the south-eastern part of the county, eastward of the Blaen Romney ironworks, are of a bituminous binding
quality, called by the Welsh glo rhwym, and sometimes glo riling, probably an abbreviation of the English running coal, or
glo cwlwm, from its caking in a knotty mass when ignited: but nearly all the rest of the coal raised eastward of the
Neath river in this county is of the kind called coking coal, which is of a less bituminous quality, and is so called from
its being the fittest to be charred for the use of the blast furnaces. Westward of the river Neath the strata become more
irregular, and the coal is almost wholly of the kind called by the Welsh glo caled, or hard coal, from its not soiling the
fingers, nor flaming when it is ignited: by the English it is called stone-coal, and the large is more particularly
adapted to the drying of malt and hops, and the small, called mint, to the burning of lime. The strata of iron-stone
commonly vary from one to five inches in thickness, and frequently consist of irregular lumps, called "balls of mine." The
mots remarkable faults, or dislocations of the strata, that are observable in this county, occur at the limestone roam of
Cribarth and Dinas, where the strata are thrown into a perpendicular position. In the Aber Cray colliery the whole of the
measures curve upwards on approaching a fault; and one bed of coal, eighteen inches thick, in this vicinity, is called
lantern coal, from its great inflammability, and the brightness of its blaze. The deep valleys which occur in the coal
district, and intersect the mine.- ral strata in various directions almost to their base, enable the miner to obtain the
object of his labours by driving horizontal shafts, or levels, into the hills, along which are constructed rail-roads, and
upon these the various materials are drawn out by horses and mules: the levels also act as drains. The fire clay strata
are found of the best quality at Dines Rock, near Pont Neath Vaughan, and a little higher up, near the village of Penderin;
and from these places considerable quantities are conveyed by the canals to Neath and Swansea in Glamorganshire, for the
use of the furnaces in the neighbourhood of those towns, and for exportation. Brecknockshire contains no considerable
quantity of any ores except those of iron; but sulphate of copper has been discovered in the parish of Llanwrthwl, on the
northern confines of the county, near the junction of the river Elain with the Wye, where some unsuccessful attempts were
made to discover a vein which might be worked with profit. Traces of lead-ore have been seen near the Dines limestone
rock, in the parish of Penderin, where similar trials were made for that ore, but with no better success. Lead veins were
discovered nearly thirty years ago in the Llanigon hills, south of the town of Hay, which were worked, but the expenses
proved greater than the profits. Small quantities of lead-ore have also been found above Coed y Cymmer, on the road from
Merthyr-Tydvil to Brecknock, and various indications of it are observable in the slate tract. Tripoli, or lapis cariosus,
is found in great quantities, and of a very pure quality, on the limestone to the north of Cribarth rock: it is generally
above the limestone, though sometimes found enclosed between its strata, and is collected in great quantities, which are
conveyed by the canal from Hen Neuadd to Swansea, and thence shipped off to different parts of England, to be used in the
burnishing of metals. Its geological situation is on the northern verge of the mountain limestone range, adjoining to the
pudding-stone which separates it from the red sand-stone of the Beacons: the masses of the coarser sort frequently enclose
nodules of limestone. Muchudd Irvon, a ponderous black stone of close texture, which is esteemed superior to brass for the
centre pins of engines to turn upon, is found in the hundred of Builth, from Llanwrtyd wells to the confluence of the
Irvon with the Wye. Although the range of limestone environing the coal measures on the north is usually considered as of
the primitive or mountain kind, it nevertheless occasionally exhibits some few marine exuvise, and one stratum on the
small river Clydach is almost an entire mass of corallines. In the Cribarth rocks are found various spars of fibrous
fracture, with slender acicular concretions standing in different directions. Some vegetable exuvite are observable in the
strata contiguous to the coal, and various spars among the iron-ores in the vicinity of Llanelly: some of these ores are
also found to be shot into constant and regular figures. The clunch, or cleft, of the coal measures contains vitriol of
iron; and in some of the mines the water is so much vitriolated, that it excoriates the hands and faces of the workmen.
The most important branch of manufacture carried on is that of iron. The most ancient of its present establishments for
this purpose are about two centuries old; but there is good reason to believe, from the masses of imperfectly fused scoria
found in different parts of the hundred of Crickhowel, and usually called Roman cinders, that some mode of manufacturing
iron must have been practised in this district at a period long anterior to the erection of any furnaces on modern plans.
The present iron-works are situated chiefly near the confines of Monmouthshire, and are as follows:—those in the vale of
Clydach, in the parish of Llanelly, the raw material for which is obtained at the distance of about two miles, and
conveyed from the mines by means of railroads and inclined planes; the Beaufort works, in the parish of Llangattock, the
ores for which are brought by rail-roads a distance of half a mile; and the Blaen Romney works, situated near the source
of the river Romney, in the parish of Llangynider: all these works obtain their supply of raw materials from the estates
of the Duke of Beaufort. There are two other important establishments of a similar kind, viz., that of Hirwaun, at the
southernmost extremity of the county, in the parish of Penderin; and that of Ynys Kedwin, in the parish of Ystradgynlais.
At these various works the iron-ore is smelted into pigs, and these again are manufactured into bars, rods, &c. The
Brecknockshire Agricultural Society, for many years after its first establishment, adopted judicious methods to encourage
the woollen and linen manufactures, which, notwithstanding all its efforts, gradually declined: the latter is now
extinct, and the woollen manufacture is confined to the weaving of the yarn spun in private families into what are called
hanner gwe, that is, half-woven, or raw, cloth, which is sometimes brought to the fairs and markets, rolled up in pieces
of from twenty-six to thirty-two yards long, and about a yard and a half broad: these are milled and dyed in England.
There is a flannel manufacture at Hay; also one on a smaller scale at Builth; one of hats and one of coarse woollen cloth
at Brecknock; and one of shoes at Crickhowel; and in the mountainous parts of the county considerable quantities of
woollen stockings are knitted by the women, and brought for sale to the fairs: the manufacture of these stockings has of
late years been expedited by the erection of carding-mills at different places. At Min Grwyney, near Crickhowel, is a
manufactory for brown paper. Great quantities of hides and skins are tanned and dressed in the county, the former being
noted for making good leather for the soles of shoes. The commerce of Brecknockshire is very various and of considerable
importance. The chief exports are, cattle and sheep; iron in various states of manufacture, which is sent by means of
railways and canals to the ports of Glamorganshire, and along the Brecknock and Abergavenny canal to Newport; wool,
chiefly for the manufactures of the North of England; some small quantities of the coarse woollen cloths and stockings
above mentioned, which are taken to the neighbouring English markets; leather and dressed sheep skins, for which the town
of Brecknock is the principal market for several of the contiguous Welsh counties, while great quantities are exported
to Bristol and other English markets; and fire clay and tripoli, the former chiefly to be manufactured into bricks for
the furnaces of Glamorganshire, and the latter sent to Bristol There are no extraordinary imports worthy of notice: the
coal tract, . owing to its inferior fertility and greater population, consumes a large proportion of the agricultural
produce of the more fertile neighbouring districts. The principal rivers are the Usk, the Wye, the Irvon, the Tif, the
Nedd, or Neath, and the Tawe, or Tawy: the three latter, with their tributaries, all inconsiderable within this county,
descend southward towards the Bristol channel, from the Black Mountain range. The Usk has its source on the northern side
of the Carmarthenshire Beacons, some miles above Trecastle, and, receiving the waters of numerous smaller rivers from
every side, flows eastward to the capital of the county, and thence east-south-eastward by the town of Crickhowel, a
little below which it enters Monmouthshire, after a course of about thirty-two miles: in this county its bed every where
retains its reddish hue, while its waters abound with fish of various kinds, more particularly with salmon and trout, for
the latter of which it is much celebrated. Its principal tributaries from the north are, the Cilieni, Bran, Esgair, and
Honddet, from the secluded valleys of the Eppynt hills, and the last of which, at its junction with the Usk, gives to the
town of Brecknock its Welsh name of Aber- Honddi; the Rhiangoll, a rivulet from the rich and beautiful valley of Cwmdti ;
and the Grwyney, from the Black Mountains of Talgarth. Those from the south are, the Crai; the Senn),; the Tarannell, or
Tarrell, from LlSrn Cwn Llwch; the Carvanell, or Annell, from Glyn Collwyn; the Cravnant; the Onwy the Clydach; and
others of less note. The romantic 'Wye first touches this county at its junction with the Elain (a small stream forming
the northern boundary of this county, and separating it from the north-western extremity of Radnorshire), and henceforward
forms the north-eastern boundary of Brecknockshire, except for a short interval in the vicinity of Glasbury, which
village, situated on the southern side of the river, is included in the county of Radnor: it flows first south-eastward
by Builth, and then eastward to Hay, where it enters Herefordshire in its further course to the Severn, after separating
the counties of Brecknock and Radnor for a distance of about thirty miles. Its principal tributary from this county is the
Irvon, which receives the waters of the Chwevrwy, Dylas or Dulas, Camarch, and other streams from the north, forms the
channel through which are poured nearly all the superfluous waters of that part of the county lying northward of the
Eppynt hills, and joins the Wye a little above the town of Builth, after a course of about twenty miles. The Wye also
receives from Brecknockshire the waters of the Dihonwy, Caletwr, and Llynvy, the last of which has its source above
Savaddan lake. The Tif is formed by two streams, called Taf Vawr and DI Vechan, which descend turbulently and
precipitately from the Beacons of Breckr nockshire, over limestone precipices, and unite on the southern border of the
county, near Merthyr-Tydvil, and immediately enter Glamorganshire. The Neath has a similar source further westward, and,
together with several other streams, by which it is shortly joined, forms various grand and beautiful cascades. The Tawy
has its double source near the lofty Trecastle Beacon, within a short distance of that of the Usk, and thence flows south-
westward by a projecting portion of Car. marthenshire into Glamorganshire. The Romney also has its source on the southern
border of the county, near the confines of Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire. The Mate and the Hepste, tributaries of the
Neath, are worthy of notice, the former for the subterraneous course which it pursues for a short distance, and both for
their cascades. The commerce of the county is greatly facilitated by artificial navigation. In 1792 an act was procured
for constructing the Brecknock and Abergavenny canal, which was designed to extend from the town of Brecknock down the
valley of the Usk, by Abergavenny, to the navigable channel of that river at Newbridge, about four miles below the town of
Usk in Monmouthshire: but an agreement being entered into between the proprietors and those of the Monmouthshire canal,
the latter paying the former three thousand pounds, it was determined to form a junction between the canals at Pont y
Moel, below Pont y Pool, and a fresh act for that purpose was obtained in 1793. The first portion made navigable was from
the coal mines and lime-works in the vicinity of the Clydach to Llangynider bridge, a distance of eight miles and a half ;
and from the latter place the canal was continued ten miles further, to Brecknock, and was completed in 1801, forming an
important line of carriage for coal and lime to that town. Through the whole of its extent it is carried through the light
soils of the red sand-stone tract, and, to make it hold water, it was found necessary to adopt the tedious and expensive
process of puddling: this difficulty occasioned the proprietors to deliberate for some time whether they should complete
the line from Clydach to below Pont y Pool, a distance of fourteen miles and a quarter, by a continuation of the canal, or
by a railway; but the former plan was at last adopted, and the entire canal, thirty-two miles in length, was completed in
December 1811, at a total expense of £170,000, being nearly double the original estimate. This canal, which affords a
communication by water between Brecknock and the Bristol channel, has a fall of sixty-eight feet from that town to
Clydach, by means of six locks, but thenceforward to its junction with the Monmouthshire canal it is upon one level: its
breadth is ten yards, and its depth of water four feet and a half, being navigated-by barges of twenty-five tons' burden:
it is carried over the valley and stream of the Clydach by a grand aqueduct, eighty feet high above the level of the water
below. The chief feeder is a copious stream introduced from the Usk into its summit level, besides which, one hundred and
eighty-five locks of one hundred and eighty tons of water each are daily gauged into it in dry seasons, from five streams
in different parts of the line, exclusively of smaller brooks. The rail-roads connected with this canal, by means of which
iron, coal, and limestone are brought from the works in the south-eastern part o" the county, occupy an extent of about
ten miles; and a rail-road ten miles in length extends from the Beaufort iron-works down the valley of the Ebwy to the
extremity of the southern branch of the Monmouthshire canal. The Swansea canal, for the construction of which an act of
parliament was obtained in 1794, extends from that town up the valley of the Tawy, a distance of about seventeen miles, to
Hen Neuadd, in the parish of Ystradgynlais, in the south-western part of this county, whence it affords a medium for
conveying to Swansea, for exportation, vast quantities of stone-coal from the numerous collieries adjacent, and iron from
the works of Ynys Kedwin; also lime, for the use of the farmers along its course: about four miles of the course of this
canal are in Brecknockshire. The Neath canal, for which an act was procured in 1790, extends from the navigable channel of
the river Neath, below the town of that name, up the valley of the Neath to Aber Gwrelych, in this county, almost as high
as Pont Neath Vaughan; and, by means of it, stone-coal and culm, iron, limestone, and fire clay, are exported from this
part of Brecknockshire. Besides the private railroads for the convenience of bringing materials to the blast furnaces, and
conveying the iron from the works to the various canals, this county is distinguished for a like road of much greater
extent, and embracing more important commercial objects. The advantages that were anticipated more immediately to result
from the formation of this rail-road were, by connecting the coal tracts of Brecknock, Monmouth, and Glamorgan, with the
agricultural western part of Herefordshire and the eastern part of Radnorshire, the introduction of a direct exchange of
produce between these two districts; the former abounding with the best kind of feel, while its miners and iron-
manufacturers depend chiefly on other parts for their supply of provisions, and the latter being fertile in corn, but its
inhabitants receiving their scanty and precarious supply of coal from the Clee hills in Shropshire. For this purpose an
act of parliament was obtained in 1811; but a different line of road from that stated in this act having in the meantime
been resolved upon, another was granted in the following year, and the work was executed with alacrity. Commencing at the
Brecknock and Abergavenny canal, near the former town, it gains its summit level at the distance of four miles and five
furlongs, by a gentle rise of one hundred and fifty-four feet two inches, being only five inches in every twenty-two yards;
and thence makes a like gradual descent of ten miles to GlitsInuy, on the banks of the Wye; but from Gliksbury to Hay,
a distance of four miles, it has a declivity of only three inches in every twenty-two yards. From Hay it proceeds to
Eardialey, in Herefordshire, a distance of seven miles, with a fall of only half an inch in every twenty-two yards; and
at the latter place divides into three branches, one of which extends northward to Kington, a second eastward to
Leominster, and the third south-eastward to Hereford: this road is commonly called the Hay railway, and the total length
of it and its branches is twenty-six miles. The roads are generally good, excellent materials for making and repairing
them being every where abundant, excepting only in those parts of the shale tract lying most remote from the ranges of
grey mountain rock: sometimes, too, the red sand-stone of the central parts of the county is applied to this purpose, in
lieu of stone from the lower strata, which, being of a very perishable nature, renders the roads heavy, unless frequently
renewed. The road from London to Milford and the south of Ireland, and to Cardigan, through Oxford and Gloucester, enters
this county from Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, and traverses it from east to west, passing through Crickhowel and
Brecknock, and entering Carmarthenshire a few miles beyond the village of Trecastle, and about five miles before reaching
Llandovery: a mail coach takes this route to Carmarthen and Milford. There is also a branch from the road from London to
Radnor, by way of Hereford, which from the latter town passes through Hay, in this county, to Brecknock. The road from
London to Tregaron in Cardiganshire branches from the Aberystwith road at Presteign, and proceeds through Builth in this
county, the northern end of which it traverses in its further progress. The relics of antiquity are very numerous and
various; they are of all periods of British history, and frequently of great curiosity and interest. Upon the high hill
called the Gader, or " Chair," near the little town of Talgarth, are some circles, evidently Druidical, formed of small
loose stones, the circumference of the whole being about twenty yards; and several other similar circles are seen within
a few hundred paces. On a hill to the westward of the village of Devynock, near the road from Ystradgynlais to Trecastle,
is a circle of large Druidical stones, called Cerig duon, or the "Black Stones," having one of larger dimensions than the
rest. In a earn, situated in a field in the parish of Llanelieu, to the east of Bronllys, was found, about the
commencement of the present century, a relic of the remotest ages of 13ritish antiquity, viz., a rudely-formed spear's
head of flint, nearly seven inches long; and in the same mound was also a coarse earthen vessel. About two miles to the
east of Talgarth, in a field called Croeslechau, is a cromlech; and another monument of the same kind, called Ty Illtyd,
or " Illtyd's House," is situated on the summit of a hill, called Mannest, in the parish of Llanhamllech. There are
remains of the two Roman stations, but the original name of either of them is not known: the principal of these, situated
about three miles above the town of Brecknock, near the confluence of the rivers Yscir and Usk, is called the Gaer, or
Caer Bannau, and its remains are very extensive, forming a parallelogram of six hundred and twenty-four feet by four
hundred and fifty-six: the foundations of the wall which bounded this area are yet perfect, and its ruins, in some
places, more particularly on the northern and eastern sides, are from three to six feet high above the level of the
ground, though much overgrown and concealed by underwood: the north-western angle of the camp is now occupied by a farm-
house and offices, built chiefly from the ruins of the ancient wall. The whole area is covered with fragments of bricks;
and gold and silver coins of the emperors Nero and Trajan have been found within it. A causeway may yet be traced leading
from the Gaer nearly at right angles with the course of the Yscir; and upon it is seen a singular carved and inscribed
Roman stone, called by the people of the adjacent country Maen y Morwynion, or the " Stone of the Maids." The other Roman
station, also called the " Gaer," a name common to settlements of this people, is at the entrance of a vale, on a rising
ground overlooking a small stream, called the Ewyn, in the vicinity of Llanvihangel Cwm dfl, in the hundred of Crickhowel,
and not far from the river Rhiangoll: it is of nearly the same dimensions as that of Caer Bannau, but of a form
approaching nearer to a square: the prtetozium is clearly distinguishable at the north-western end, while fragments of
bricks are found over the whole enclosure, within which Roman coins have also been discovered: in the vicinity is a
stone, now thrown down, bearing a Latin inscription. The principal Roman road was a branch of the Via Julia Maritima,
which latter was formed by Julius Frontinus along the southern coast of Wales: from the station Isca Silurum, or
Legionum, at Caerlleon, this branch passed by that of Gobannium (Abergavenny) entirely across the county, from east to
west, to that of Maridunum at Carmarthen, and from its more elevated course has been called, in contradistinction to that
from which it diverged, the Via Julia Montana. Almost the only trace of it yet discerned in the county, with the exception
of the causeway at the Gaer above mentioned, which is supposed to have communicated with it, is a stone discovered on
Trecastle mountain, near a little public-house, called the Heath Cock, bearing an imperfect inscription, and supposed to
be a Roman milliary. This road is considered to have entered Brecknockshire from Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, and to have
passed through Crickhowel and Tretower to the Gaer near Llanvihangel Cwm dfl, and thence through a pass, called Bwlch, and
in a line northward of the present turnpike road, to the town of Brecknock, to one street of which it gives the name of
the Struet: hence it proceeded near the station at Caer Bannau, beyond which it soon crossed the Usk, and proceeded
westward by RhYd y Briw (where some traces of it were seen rather more than half a century ago) into Carmarthenshire. The
station at Caer Bannau appears to have communicated by vicinal ways with the stations Tibia Amnis at Cardiff, and Nidus at
Neath, in Glamorganshire, and also with that at Cwm, on the river Ithon, in Radnorshire. That from Cardiff, now called the
Sam Ilk, enters this county from the vicinity of Bedwelty in Monmouthshire, at a place called Bryn Oer, whence it
continues, in a direction nearly from south to north, across the Usk to the Via Julia Montana, in the vicinity of
Brecknock. That from Neath, now called the Sam Helen, takes a north-easterly direction, and may be traced through a great
part of its course: it enters Brecknockshire at a place called Ton y Vildra, and a little further crosses a brook, called
Nant hir, then proceeds to Blaen Nedd, pursues a course parallel with the road from Pont Neath Vaughan for about a mile,
and passes within a few yards of the huge upright stone, twelve feet high and ten broad, called Maen Llia, or " Llia's
Stone," situated near the summit of a high hill, to the north-east of the last-mentioned place, whence it may be traced
gradually descending on the southern side of the Senny river and vale, from which place all traces of it are afterwards
lost for a considerable distance: at Blangwrthid, in the parish of Llanspythid, however, it is again traceable for a
short distance, and is conjectured to have entered the Vale of Usk, near Penpont, where it joined the Via Julia. From the
Gaer a road sometimes called the Via Devana is supposed to have proceeded northward towards the station of Deva, at
Chester, by way of that at Cwm, on the banks of the Ithon, in Radnorshire, but no traces of it are visible in the county
of Brecknock. From some remains of a road discovered in the parish of Newchurch in Tyr-Abbot, in the northern part of the
county, a vicinal way is supposed to have passed in that direction from the station Maridunum, at Carmarthen, by Llanvair
ar y BrYn, to that on the river Ithon; and at Caerau, in the parish of Llangammarch, is an artificial mount, about eighty
yards in circumference, probably the seat of an err speculatoria, or watch-tower, on this road, though by some antiquaries
supposed to be of British origin. Near the village of Llanvrynach, about two miles to the south-east of Brecknock, several
Roman baths in a very perfect state were discovered in 1783; and various Roman coins have been at different times found in
the vicinity of that place, besides foundations of other ancient buildings contiguous to the baths. Near Crickhowel is an
ancient British fortification, called Crag Hywel, or " Howell's Mount," a large intrenched camp, of nearly triangular
form, which gave name to that town: the ditch surrounding it is very deep, and cut with prodigious labour in the solid
rock. A very extensive encampment of British formation, called Penmyarth, of a circular form, and defended only by a rude
rampart of uncemented stones, is also visible on a hill between the road from Tretower to Brecknock and the river Usk, a
short distance to the northward of which is another fortification of the same kind. At Venni wood, near the great Roman
station of Caer Bannau, is a British intrenched camp of very ancient date; at a place called Pen y Crag, or the "Summit of
the Hill," about one mile from this, and two miles north-west from Brecknock, is a large oval fortification of like
origin, six hundred feet long, four hundred and thirty broad, and surrounded by four ditches, eighteen feet deep; and
near this again is a third British fortification, of the same shape, but much smaller and in a less perfect state of
preservation. Near the parish church of Llanvillo are the traces of a British camp, of an oval form, two hundred and eight
yards long and forty-six broad; on an eminence near the church of Gllisbury are those of one of a smaller size; on the
hill above Aberbriin, overlooking the Vale of the Usk, those of one of larger dimensions; and on the hills to the west of
the Tawy river are remains of various small fortifications, also of British erection. The scene of the sanguinary conflict
between the Saxons and the Britons, in the year 728, near the south-eastern extremity of this county, is marked by two
large heaps of stones, called carneddau, one of which, on being opened, was found to contain a kistvaen, or sepulchral
stone chest. Other carneddau are seen on the summit of a hill, rising from the valley of the Usk, in the vicinity of
Tretower, as also on the hills to the westward of the Vale of Tawy. In the parish of Llanwrthwl, at the northern extremity
of the county, are some large stones placed irregularly in the ground, which have given to the plain on which they stand
the name of Rhos saith Maen, or the "Seven-stone Common;" and in the parish of Llangeney, near Crickhowel, is a remarkable
ancient monument, consisting of a single upright stone, about thirteen feet high. Remarkable single artificial mounds,
supposed to have been posts of defence, but of uncertain date, are seen respectively near Dinas, in the vicinity of
Llanwrtyd, near Castle Madoc, at Ystradvelltey, and at Trecastle. At the period of the dissolution, the only religious
houses contained in this county were the priory and college of Brecknock, the latter of which still exists, and there are
also vestiges of the ancient buildings of both these institutions. In a steep precipice in the upper part of the vale of
Ystradgynlais is an ancient hermitage, cut in the solid rock, called Eglwys Cradoc, or " Cradoc's Church." The most
remarkable specimens of ecclesiastical architecture exist in the churches of St. John the Evangelist and St. Mary, at
Brecknock, the former of which contains a font of Saxon, or early Norman, workmanship; the college church at the same
town; the church of Crickhowel, which, among other peculiarities, is remarkable as the only one in Brecknockshire having
a spire steeple; and those of Llanthew and Talgarth. There are striking ruins of the castles of Brecknock, Bronllys,
Crickhowel, RhYd y Briw (sometimes called Devynock castle, near the village of Devynock), and Tretower, near the village
of Tre-twr, or Tre 'r twr. There are also fragments of the walls of Dinas castle, in the parish of Talgarth; and some
small remains of the castle of Builth, and of that of Pencelly, near LlanhamIlech: on a lofty precipitous bank, rising
from the side of the river Irvon, a little above its junction with the Wye, is a mound called Castell Caer Beris, which
appears to have been once the site of a fortress. This county contains a remarkably great number of ancient mansions,
either now or formerly the residences of families possessing estates within it. Those most worthy of notice are, Carawen,
in the valley of the greater Taf, the seat of a family named Morgan; Castle Madoc, near Llandevailog Dderw House, in the
parish of LlYswen, at present occupied by a farmer; Frwdgrech, Hoelvanog, and Newton, all near Brecknock; Lower Trevecca
House, in the parish of Talgarth; Pont Wily m, near Brecknock, now a farm-house; and the old mansion of Scethrog (now
called the Tower, and inhabited by a farmer), near the village of Llansaintfraed on the Usk: another old mansion at Hay
is the seat of a family named Wellington. At the western extremity of the town of Crickhowel, adjoining the road leading
to Brecknock, are some striking ruins of a castellated mansion, anciently belonging to the Herberts of that place,
consisting chiefly of an old gateway and part of an outer wall. There are also standing, an outward wall and gateway of
Porthaml, an ancient fortified residence near Talgarth; and some remains of a castellated mansion of the bishops of St.
David's, at Llanthew. Some of the residences of a more modern date most worthy of notice for their architectural beauty
are, Glan Usk, the residence of Joseph Bailey, Esq.; Gwernvale, that of John Gwynne Esq.; Pennoyre House, that of John
Lloyd Vaughan Watkins, Esq.; Peterstone, that of the Rev. Thomas Powell; and Pontywall, that of F. Philips, Esq.
Brecknockshire is distinguished above every other county in South Wales for the neatness, comfort, and convenience of its
farm-houses and offices, an advantage considered to be owing chiefly to the labours, precepts, and example of the members
of the Brecon Agricultural Society, and to the excellence of the building materials obtained in most parts of the county.
A few of the cottages, in the most mountainous and uncultivated parts of the county, are of a very inferior description.
Some of the houses in the vicinity of the iron-works are remarkable for being roofed with plates of rolled iron, some
flat, others curved like the common pantiles: the spars, side-rasers, &c., are also sometimes of iron. The quickset
hedges are almost universally very crooked: in some of the uplands of the red sand-stone and coal tracts the fences are
dry stone walls, made of the flat slate-like stones found there, or of these placed in alternate layers with sods. The
bread of the agricultural population of the vales is made chiefly from the red lammas wheat, ground and dressed in the
ordinary manner; but in the more elevated and less cultivated districts it is frequently made from a mixture of wheat and
rye, called muncorn, or of wheat and barley, and sometimes from barley alone. Servants are hired at the May and November
fairs: most of the fairs of this county continue for several days. The most remarkable mineral spring is that at
Llanwrtyd Wells, on the banks of the Irvon, in the upper part of the hundred of Builth, about eight miles west of the town
of Builth, called by the Welsh Y Fynnon Ddrewllyd, or the" Stinking Well," the waters of which are strongly impregnated
with hepatic gas, a small portion of sulphate of iron, and a still smaller quantity of sulphate of soda, and are
ascertained to be of equal efficacy with those of Harrogate in the cure of scorbutic and scrofulous disorders. The
sanative properties of this spring were discovered about the year 1732: it is now much resorted to in the summer season,
and a comfortable mansion, formerly the residence of a respectable family, is open for the public accommodation, with
conveniences for warm and cold bathing. The Park Wells, a mile to the west of Builth, consist of four springs within a few
feet of each other; one of these is of pure water, another saline, a third chalybeate, and the fourth sulphureous.
Several other mineral springs occur in different places, but are of no celebrity. Tarren yr Ogov, or the " Cliff of the
Cave," is a limestone rock near Capel Callwen, on the western bank of the Tawy, out of which issues a constant stream of
water, that works a mill immediately below: a day or two after heavy rains the quantity discharged is prodigiously
increased. The southern side of this county, besides being distinguished for the picturesque beauties of its deep mountain
dells, also presents various grand cascades, and other natural curiosities worthy of notice. The most remarkable of the
waterfalls are, that called Pistyll-Mawr, or the Great Cascade, on the small river Clydach, romantically em-bosomed in a
luxuriant wood; two of peculiar grandeur on the small river Melia, a little above its junction with the Hepste; Cil
Hepste waterfall, on the latter stream, which is here precipitated, in one wide unbroken sheet, from a height of nearly
fifty feet, and afterwards with the Mellte descends into the Neath; a bold cataract, called Scwd Einon Gam, on the
Pyrddin, a stream which flows into the Neath from the westward; and that called Scwd yr Hen Rhjkl, on the small river
Llech, which joins the Taw), from the eastward, some distance above the village of Ystradgynlais. The Mena, before forming
the cascades above mentioned, pursues -a subterranean passage for a short distance, flowing through a singular and
extensive cavern, which, when the water is low, may be explored with torches to a considerable distance: the entrance,
called Porth Ogov, is about twenty feet high and forty-five wide, and its interior expands into a large apartment,
ornamented with stalactites and other calcareous concretions: in the course of its passage through this cavern the river
is precipitated, with astounding noise, into a deep pool.