Brecon Presbyterian Church

PWMP logobutton_lang_frenchbutton_lang_welshBrecon Presbyterian Church, The Watton

This church was built in the 1860s to cater for the increase in English speakers in Brecon after the advent of rabrecon_presbyterian_churchilways and the British and National Schools (which taught in English). Land for the building was given by wealthy industrialist Mordecai Jones, who lived next door at what is now the Grange guesthouse. His wife laid the foundation stone in January 1866.

The church was designed, with space for 500 worshippers, by Reading-based architect WF Poulton and built by the Williams brothers of Llanfaes, Brecon. The prominent spire was repaired in the 1950s after lightning damage.

Many members of the congregation served in the armed forces in the First World War. A framed Roll of Honour, which hangs in the vestry, appears to have been created before the war ended. It is titled: “European War, 1914-”, with no concluding date. Of the 17 men listed, only Charles Davies is noted as “deceased”.

Charles had left his job as a plasterer to join the South Wales Borderers. He died of illness in India in August 1916. He was 24 years old and left his wife Margaret and their child.

John Letton, also listed here, died of heart failure in Egypt in October 1916, aged 26. He first tried to join the regular army in November 1914 but was rejected on health grounds.

Also named is Sgt Christmas Morgan. He was killed in action in France in February 1916, aged 32. He had joined the South Wales Borderers long before the war. In 1906, Private Morgan was acclaimed for his bravery after the town’s Oddfellows’ Hall caught fire. He fought through the smoke to rescue a child but found that she had already been suffocated.

With thanks to Steve Morris of Breconshire Local & Family History Society and to Huw Carrod

Postcode: LD3 7ED    View Location Map

Website of Brecon Presbyterian Church

 

To continue the Brecon in WW1 tour, turn left outside the churchyard. Continue along Watton, passing the roundabout, to the Royal Welsh Museum, location of the next QR codes
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