{{short description|Municipal Building in Brecon, Wales}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Use British English|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name =Brecon Guildhall | native_name = Neuadd y Dref Aberhonddu |native_language=cy | image = Brecon Guild Hall - geograph.org.uk - 3089538.jpg | caption = Brecon Guildhall | locmapin =Wales Powys | map_caption =Shown in Powys | coordinates ={{coord| 51.9475 |-3.3907 |type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location = High Street, Brecon | area = | built =1771 | architect = | architecture =Neoclassical style | governing_body = | designation1_number =6908 | designation1_date = 16 January 1952 | designation1_offname = Town Hall | designation1 = Grade II Listed Building | website = }} '''Brecon Guildhall''' ({{langx|cy|Neuadd y Dref Aberhonddu}}), is a municipal building in the High Street, Brecon, Powys, Wales. The structure, which is the meeting place of Brecon Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.<ref name=listed>{{NHAW|desc=Town Hall |num=6908|access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref>
== History == The first municipal building in the town was a Tudor era guildhall which was completed in 1556.<ref name=blfhs>{{cite web|url=https://www.blfhs.co.uk/index.php/newsletters/send/2-newsletters/270-newsletter-79 |title=Brecon Guildhall|publisher=Breconshire Local & Family History Society|date=1 August 2018|page=3| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> This was replaced by a structure designed by John Abel of Hereford which was timber-framed and completed in 1624.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://brecknocksociety.co.uk/venue/the-guildhall/ |title=The Guildhall|publisher=The Becknock Society| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> The building was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly hall on the first floor. At roof level, it featured three gables with a sundial, which was inscribed with the words ''Soles Nobis Pereunt et Imputantur'' (English: The hours are consumed and will be charged to our account),<ref>Martial, ''Epigrams'', book V, ode xx, line 13</ref> installed in the centre gable.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-bRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT72 |title=A-Z of Brecon Places-People-History |first= Mal|last= Morrison |year= 2020|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1-4456-9278-4}}</ref>
After the second guildhall became dilapidated, the floors above ground were demolished and a new structure was commissioned in 1770. The new building was designed in the neoclassical style, built by Andrew Maund in ashlar stone on the ground floor with a stucco finish on the first floor, and was completed in 1771.<ref name=listed/> The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the High Street. The ground floor featured three round headed openings with voussoirs, while the first floor was fenestrated by sash windows with architraves and pediments, the central pediment being segmental and the outer pediments being triangular. The whole structure was surmounted by a modillioned pediment with a further sash window, with a triangular pediment, in the tympanum. Internally, the principal rooms were a market hall and an armoury on the ground floor and an assembly hall on the first floor.<ref name=listed/>
The building was refurbished at the expense of the former local member of parliament, Sir Charles Morgan, 1st Baronet, for £500 in 1809 and remodelled at the expense of the High Sheriff of Brecknockshire, Lieutenant-Colonel John Morgan, of Lion Street, Brecon, for £3,000 in 1889: the remodelling involved the infilling of the arcading on the ground floor to create a mayor's parlour and a courtroom on that floor.<ref name=listed/><ref name=blfhs/> The building was used as the meeting place of Brecon Borough Council but also as a local events venue: events held in the guildhall included a meeting calling for the abolition of slavery in February 1826 and a meeting calling for women's suffrage in January 1915.<ref name=hp>{{cite web|url= https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=the-guildhall-brecon |title= The Guildhall, Brecon|publisher=History Points| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> In January 1919, John Williams, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery at the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War and who had re-enlisted to serve at Brecon Barracks in 1914 at the start of the First World War, attended the town hall to receive a presentation in recognition of his service in the recent war.<ref name=hp/>
The building continued to serve as the meeting place of the borough council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Brecknock District Council was formed in 1974.<ref>{{cite book|title=Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70|publisher=The Stationery Office Ltd|isbn=0-10-547072-4|year=1997}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10009352|title=Brecon UD / MB|publisher=Vision of Britain| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> Instead it became the meeting place of Brecon Town Council.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://brecontowncouncil.org.uk/contact/|title=Contact us |publisher=Brecon Town Council| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> The Brecon Jazz Festival, which started in 1984, was held annually in the guildhall until the Theatr Brycheiniog was completed in 1997.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59Q4AQAAIAAJ |title= Jazz Journal International Volume 49, Issues 7–12 |year=1996 |page=2}}</ref> The singer Charlotte Church performed at a concert in the guildhall in August 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/9850212.charlotte-church-to-appear-in-ludlow-and-brecon/ |title=Charlotte Church to appear in Ludlow and Brecon|date=5 August 2012|newspaper=Hereford Times| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref>
Works of art in the town hall include a portrait by Hans Schadow of the opera singer, Adelina Patti, who lived at Craig-y-Nos Castle,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/schadow-hans-18621924 |title= Adelina Patti (1843–1919)|first=Hans|last=Schadow|publisher=Art UK| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref> and a portrait by Isaac Cooke of Gwenllian Morgan, the first woman in Wales to hold the office of mayor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/miss-gwenllian-e-f-morgan-18521939-coronation-mayor-of-brecon-19101911-178220 |title= Miss Gwenllian E. F. Morgan (1852–1939), Coronation Mayor of Brecon (1910–1911)|first=Isaac|last=Cooke| publisher=Art UK| access-date=12 June 2022}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Government buildings in Wales}}
Category:Grade II listed buildings in Powys Category:Government buildings completed in 1771 Category:City and town halls in Wales Guildhall Category:Grade II listed government buildings