Beginning life as the Benedictine Priory of St John the Evangelist in 1093 and built on the site of an earlier Celtic church, Brecon Cathedral (Grade I listed) and the Cathedral Close has the finest collection of medieval church buildings in Wales. In the later middle ages the church was famed for its Golden Rood and was a destination for countless pilgrims. The great rood was destroyed, during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1537, but the buildings survived to become Brecon’s Parish Church, before the establishment of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon 1923 elevated it to Cathedral status.
The building’s long life can be seen in its architecture, which features Norman arches, an impressive timber roof that dates from the Victorian restoration, carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the intricately-carved Norman font and the Cresset Stone. There’s also the 14th-century Havard Chapel, now the Regimental Chapel of the Royal Welsh (24th Regiment), and contains the Colours including those from the Zulu wars and Rorke’s Drift.
Brecon LD3 9DP