Brecon Close

This Hartley place name comes from Wales, where the town of Brecon stands at the confluence of the Usk and Honddu rivers, sheltered by the mountains, with the Brecon Beacons rising to the south.

A traditional market town and formerly the centre of a flourishing woollen industry, Brecon also has a long military history. Associated with a Roman Fort, Y Gaer, on a nearby hill, the town was captured by William the Conqueror in 1094. He set up a priory there, which, 300 years later, established a cathedral that was described as "half church of God and half a castle against the Welsh." During the Napoleonic Wars, French Prisoners were held in the town.

The South Wales Borderers Museum at Brecon's Barracks commemorates 120 years of the regiment being based here, and in particular their role in the Zulu Wars and at the battle of Rourke's Drift.

That battle, immortalised in the film Zulu, saw Plymothian Lieutenant John Chard, and his fellow officer Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, lead a band of 140 men to hold out against 4,000 natives in one of the most courageous stands of the Zulu Wars.

EH 2 September 2006