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207 
information given during the day, and this may best be done in a connected 
narrative. 
The town of Brecon is purely Norman. No Roman coins or other remains 
have ever been found there. It was founded by Bernard Newmarch, after 
he had conquered the unfortunate Bleddin ap Maenarch. He razed to the 
ground the British city of Caer, then called Caervong, or Caervon, which 
was situated three miles higher up on the banks of the river Usk, and removed all 
the materials to Brecon. Here he built the Castle, c. 1092-94. Caer, in two or three 
charters of Bernard Newmarch and Roger, Earl of Hereford, to the monks of 
Brecon, is called ‘‘ vasta civitas,” and it therefore occupied a considerable space. 
It was so strongly fortified that Newmarch, when he invaded the district (1091), 
avoided it, and made a feint by filing off northwards along the ridge parallel to 
the river Yscir, as if making for the Epynt range of hills. The British ruler, 
Bleddin, with his brother-in-law, Rhys-ap-Twydwr, led their men along the lane 
on the other side of the river called Heol-y-Cwmri, from which they watched the 
Normans. ‘Tradition fixes the site of the battle which decided the fate of Brecon- 
shire, at the hamlet of Battle, three miles from Brecon, now a distinct parish. 
The Normans were crossing the river Yscir by a wood, called from this event, 
Swmgwern-y-gad (now corrupted to Cwmgwingad) meaning the wood of the vale 
of the battle. Here the British attacked them with great fierceness, but the dis- 
cipline of the Normans prevailed. The British were driven back with much 
slaughter, and in their retreat, tradition states that Rhys lost his head on the 
common above, near a well that has since been called Ffunnon Pen Rhys. Such 
is the account given by Mr. Registrar Jones in his history of the county ; and he 
also states that the existence of a Maen-hir (a long upright stone) just below the 
church, may serve also to support the tradition. _Newmarch set to work to build 
his castle at Brecon, 1094, and surrounded the town by a wall. He also, in 
imitation of his master, William the Conqueror, built a church and monastery as 
a thank-offering for his victory. He attached it asa cell to Battle Abbey, in 
Surrey, and. endowed it with the hamlet of Battle, on which the victory was 
gained. The Castle Hotel occupies part of the site of the old fortress, and in the 
garden, one of the towers and some of the old walls remain. The remains of the 
Ely tower are now in private grounds, opposite the hotel, on a high mound. It 
takes its name from that able and artful politician, John Morton, Bishop of Ely, 
who was imprisoned here by King Richard. Henry, Duke of Buckingham, who 
was Lord High Constable of England, and Governor of all the King’s Castles in 
Wales, claims the Earldom of Hereford from the King, who abruptly refuses, and 
Buckingham comes to Brecon Castle. 
** Ts it even so? repays he my deep service 
With such contempt? Made I him king for this? 
Oh, let me think on Hastings, and be gone 
To Brecknock, while my fearful head is on.” 
SHaKkeEspeEaARE—Richard III., Act 4, Scene 2. 
Here he conspires with Morton to dethrone King Richard, and unite the rival 
Houses of York and Lancaster. The castle was demolished in the time of 
Charles I. 
