BRECON

also called Brecknock, Welsh Aberhonddu cathedral town, Powys county, historic county of Brecknockshire, Wales, on the River Usk at its confluence with the Honddu and Tarell. The town grew up around a Norman castle built in 1092. The Benedictine Priory of St. John was founded about the same time; the former priory church, dating from the 13th century, became in 1923 the cathedral for the newly constituted diocese of Swansea and Brecon of the Church in Wales. Brecon by the early 16th century had become one of the most important towns in Wales, lying on the main route across southern Wales from London to Fishguard. In 1542 Henry VIII set up a chancery and exchequer at the castle and converted an earlier Dominican friary into a collegiate church and school (Christ's College). Brecon was the county town (seat) of the historic county of Brecknockshire. The town lost its premier status in the southeast to Cardiff during the Industrial Revolution, but it has retained some importance as a shopping and service centre. Pop. (1991) 7,532.