Brecon

The triple peaks of the Brecon Beacons — Pen Y Fan (2,907ft), flanked by Cribin (2,608 ft) and Com Du (2,863 ft) - the highest mountains in South Wales cast their shadows over Brecon lie at the meeting point of 2 rivers, the Usk and the Honddu.

Known also as Brecknock, Brecon is one of the oldest Welsh towns: it was granted its first charter in 1246. Another charter of 1366 gave it the right to hold a fair, and pleasure fairs are still held in the streets for three days every May and November.

The church of St John, raised to cathedral status in 1923, was originally the church of a Benedictine monastery founded in 1091. Most of the present building, however, belongs to the 13th and 14th centuries. The aisles were formerly filled with craft-guild chapels, of which only one, that of the corvizors (shoemakers) remains.

Captain's Walk owes its name to the period of the Napoleonic Wars when it was a favourite place of exercise for captured French officers imprisoned here. The town centre has an interesting assortment of medieval, Georgian, Jacobean and Tudor architecture.

At an inn in the High Street, the celebrated actress, Sarah Siddons (nee Kemble) was born in 1755.