Cylchgronau Cymru

OLD BRECKNOCK CHIPS/' A Column of Antiquarian Chit-Chat relating to the County of Brecknock. NOTES, QUERIES, AND REPLIES, on Subjects inter¬ esting to Breconshire, must be addressed to EDITOR, Brecon County Times, Brecon. Real names and addresses must be given in confidence, and MSS. must be written legibly, on one side of the paper only. OCTOBER 8th, 1886. QUERIES. THE OLD TOWN WALL OF BEECON. —I shall be glad if one of our local anti¬ quaries will shortly sketch for us in this column, the exact course of the old Town Wall from Watton Gate to Heolrhydd, and I should further like to know whether, during the laying of the water and drainage pipes, any remnants of the old town wall were discovered, and where ? Jarco ii. AN UNJUST LAW.—The following Act was passed in the 2Gth year of the reign of King Henry VIII :—"Cap xi—Whosoever dwelling in Wales or the Marches thereof shall assault, beat, or hurt any person of the county of Gloucester, Salop, or Hereford, and shall be indicted and convicted thereof, shall be one year imprisoned." If records of convictions so far back are preserved, and access can be obtained to them, will some local antiquarian kindly give particulars of a few instances where Breconians suffered under this unjust law ? H.P. REPLIES. THE RADNORSHIRE BOUNDARY— (Oct. 1st).—"Q" Will find the boundaries and limits of the county of Radnor denned in Williams's History of Radnorshire, pp. 13 and 14. The Editor. FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR— (September 17th).—In the Priory grave yard there is a stone with the following in¬ scription :— Ci git Francois Husson Prisonnier de guerre Francais Capne. an 4me Regt. D'artillerie de Marine Decedele 27 Avril, 1810, age de 48 ans. By foreign hands his humble grave adorn'd, By strangers honor'd and by strangers mourn'd. D.R. Mr James Howells, town crier, Brecon, tells us he remembers "as if it were yester¬ day " all about the French prisoners being billeted in Brecon. There were about 50 of them, and mostly all gentlemen and officers; they were lodged in various places in the town, and one, a French doctor, lodged with Mr Mainwaring (just where Williams' factory in the Struet now stands) and he was very clever, and also kind- hearted in giving advice to Breconians. After the Battle of Waterloo, and when peace was signed, the prisoners left Brecon, excepting one, who lies buried in the Priory Churchyard. None of them settled in Brecon¬ shire, and therefore their influence upon our county families by marriage or family ties is nil. The Editor. PRICE OF WTHEAT AND BEEF 50 YEARS AGO—(Oct. 1st).—The following are the prices realized at Brecon Market on Saturday, April 19th, 1845, as reported hi The Silurian : BRECON. s d s d Wheat ............... 5 6 to 6 0 Barley.............. 4 6 5 0 Oats.............. 2 6 3 0 White Peas........ 0 0 0 0 Grey ditto ........ 0 0 4 0 Malt per sack......44 0 46 0 Cheese, perlb........ 0 3| 0 4 Fresh butter per lb.. 1 0 0 0 Salt ditto (tub) ____ 0 10 0 10| Beef............... 0 0 0 6 Mutton.............. 0 6| 0 7 Veal................ 0 5 0 6 Pork................. 0 5 0 0 Of course I know this hardly answers " Agricola's " query, because six years later (in 1851) there may have been similar agricultural depression to what we are now I hope slowly recovering from. The Editor. SIR BARTLE FRERE (Oct. 1st, 1886). —In reply to " Breconiensis " I beg to state that it is perfectly correct that, a few months before his lamented death, Sir Bartle did pay a visit to Brecon for the express purpose of calling upon his old and revered friend, the late Lancelot Powell, Esq. (formerly of Clydach House, Llanelly, in this county, and in which house Sir Bartle was born.) I believe the visit was in the early autumn of 1883. Quiz. THE EARLDOM OF BRECKNOCK (Sept. 17th and 24th).—Regarding the title " Earl of Brecknock," possibly the following traditionary narrative may serve to throw some light to " Ap Shenkin " and others as