History
The Dominican Friary dedicated to St. Nicholas was founded in Brecon before 1269, when it is first recorded in documents. Construction likely began around 1240, when Milo Fitzwalter granted the surrounding lands to the monastery in Malvern. A major benefactor of the friary, as well as of four other Welsh Dominican monasteries, was Queen Elizabeth of Castile, wife of Edward I. In the 14th century, the Awbrey family of Abercynrig also provided support to the Brecon Dominicans.
The medieval history of the friary is not well-documented. The Brecon Dominicans were a small monastery that, unlike others, did not engage in teaching and had no supra-regional significance. At the time of the dissolution of the friary in 1538, the Brecon Dominicans were one of the poorest monastic houses in Wales, with only six acres of land and a small garden. After the dissolution, the friary buildings were taken by William Barlow, Bishop of St Davids, who in 1541 established Abergwili College in the abandoned premises. As Christ College, it educated clergy until the opening of St Davids College. Christ College was subsequently transformed into a public school in 1853.
In the second half of the 17th century, most of the medieval buildings of the friary were demolished, presumably for the sale of the stone and lead from the roofs. This was allegedly the work of a certain Roger Thomas, who, after the end of the Civil War, feared they would be taken from him. The portion of the former priory buildings that escaped demolition underwent Victorian renovation in the 19th century. First, after 1859, under the supervision of the architect John Pollard Seddon, part of the friary church of St. Nicholas was renovated, and then in the years 1861-1864 John Seddon and John Prichard erected neo-Gothic school buildings.
Architecture
The friary was situated outside the medieval town of Brecon, across the River Usk, near a bridge and the road from Cardiff and Neath. The buildings consisted of a church dedicated to St. Nicholas and three-winged cloistered rooms on its southern side. Nearby, there must have been economic buildings, a churchyard cemetery, gardens and orchards. The entire friary was surrounded by a wall, within which a gatehouse led.
The friary church consisted of a single nave on an elongated rectangular plan, adjoined to the east by a rectangular chancel of the same width but slightly shorter. Together, the two elements reached a length of just under 50 meters, with the chancel approximately 20 meters long and the nave 27 meters long. The building had no transept, and if a tower existed in the Middle Ages at the junction of the nave and chancel, it must have been low. In the 14th century, the church was enlarged on the north side with a narrow aisle and a chapel extending it to the east. The sacristy was located on the south side of the chancel.
The eastern corners of the chancel were reinforced with buttresses placed perpendicularly to each other. Lighting was provided by narrow, tall, and numerous openings, occupying almost the entire northern façade of the chancel. On the south side, the chancel had only four windows, due to the adjoining claustrum buildings and sacristy. All of windows were flanked on the inside by small columns. Similar lancet-shaped openings, perhaps forming a pyramidal triad, were originally located in the eastern wall. However, in the 14th century, a large pointed window with a five-light, simple lancet-shaped tracery was added. A large window was also located on the axis of the western wall of the nave. The northern windows of the nave were removed after the wall was pierced by the four arcades of the aisle. The chapel, located on its eastern side, was lit by two three-light, pointed windows.
The original exterior entrance to the church must have been in the northern wall. After the construction of the 14th-century aisle, a portal was also placed in the western part of the northern wall. The nave was connected to the cloister by two southern portals. Another southern portal connected the space between the rood screen and the chancel arcade. In the southern wall of the chancel was a narrow portal leading to the sacristy. Adjacent to this were unusually quadripartite sedilia and a double stone piscina, all topped with trefoils and crowned with hoods on corbels with floral motifs.
The monastery buildings were located on the southern side of the church. Perpendicularly connected to it were the western and eastern wings, and the cloistered garth. The third wing enclosed the courtyard on the south side. In addition to the rooms mandated by the monastic rule, such as the dormitory, chapter house, and refectory, there was also the abbot’s chamber (or guest room), measuring 20 x 10 meters, with a 14th-century open roof truss.
The chancel of the friary church, the 14th-century chapel, the nave walls up to the window sills, and part of the northern arcade remain to this day. The chancel walls and windows are partially original, but after the mid-19th century, the northern wall was rebuilt from the ground, using the original building materials. Two of the monastery rooms also have survive: the refectory or infirmary and probably the abbot’s chamber, with a 14th-century open roof truss. A school operates on the former monastery grounds, so visiting may be difficult.
bibliography:
Burton J., Stöber K., Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales, Chippenham 2015.
Haslam R., The buildings of Wales. Powys (Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Breconshire), London 1979.
Salter M., Abbeys, priories and cathedrals of Wales, Malvern 2012.