Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for CRICKHOWELL

CRICKHOWELL, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred, in Brecon. The town stands on a gentle declivity, at the river Usk, near the Brecon and Newport canal, at the end of a branch railway of 5¼ miles, authorised in 1864, 6 miles WNW of Adergavenny; is well built, and has been much improved; is a resort of anglers, a seat of petty sessions, and a nominal borough; and has a head post office, ‡ a hotel, a town-hall, an old fourteen-arched bridge, a parish church, three dissenting chapels, and the ruins of an ancient castle. The church was founded, in 1303, by Lady Sibyl de Pauncefoot, but has been much altered; is cruciform, and 113 feet long; has a shingled spire, renovated in 1861; and contains two old fractured effigies, and a monument to Sir John Herbert of 1666. The castle was founded soon after the Conquest; belonged to successive lords of the manor; went into decay so early as the time of Elizabeth; and has been reduced to ivy-clad fragments of two towers, square and round. Markets are held on Thursdays; and fairs on 1 Jan., 1 Feb., 13 April, 12 May, the last Friday of Sep., and 16 Nov. A manufactory of flannels, in high repute, and mentioned in "Humphrey Clinker, " was formerly carried on; but has ceased. -The parish comprises, 941 acres. Real property, £5, 872. Pop., 1, 516. Houses, 318. The manor belonged formerly to the Burghills, the Turbervilles, the Pauncefoots, and the Herberts; and belongs now to the Duke of Beaufort. A picturesque gateway, which belonged to a house of the Herberts, built in the time of Henry VII., now forms the entrance to Cwrt-y-Carw, the seat of E. Seymour, Esq. The ancient British camp of Craig-Hywel, or Cerreg-Howell, crowns Breanag-hill or Table-mountain, 2 miles N of the town; is on the line of the Mountain Julian way; has a nearly triangular outline, of about 1, 200 feet; is supposed to have been formed by Howell ap Rhys, Prince of Gwent, in his war against Brecon; and gave its name to the town, corrupted into Crickhowell. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St. Davids. Value, £250.* Patron, the Duke of Beaufort. -The sub-district contains the parishes of Crickhowell and Llanbedr, the parochial chapelries of Llangenny and Partrishow, and part of the parish of Talgarth. Acres, 14, 936. Pop., 2, 445. Houses, 514. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Cwmdû, conterminate with the parish of Llanfihangel-Cwmdû; the sub-district of Llangunider, conterminate with the parish of Llangunider; the sub-district of Llangattock, conterminate with the parish of Llangattock; and the sub-district of Llanelly, conterminate with the parochial chapelry of Llanelly. Acres, 53, 692. Poor-rates in 1862, £9, 399. Pop. in 1841, 17, 676; in 1861, 22, 457. Houses, 4, 812. Marriages in 1860, 148; births, 895, - of which 44 were illegitimate; deaths, 572, -of which 254 were at ages under 5 years, and 11 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1, 997; births, 8, 808; deaths, 5, 531. The places of worship in 1851 were 11 of the Church of England, with 4, 339 sittings; 16 of Independents, with 4, 581 s.; 12 of Baptists, with 4, 417 s.; 13 of Wesleyan, Methodists, with 2, 291 s.; 5 of Primitive Methodists, with 1, 013 s.; 7 of Calvinistic Methodists, with 1, 769 s.; and 1 undefined, with 254 attendants. The schools were 11 public day schools, with 940 scholars; 12 private day schools, with 386 s.; 61 Sunday schools, with 6, 038 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 12 s. The workhouse is in Llangattock. -The hundred contains six parishes. Acres, 48, 792. Pop., 22, 351. Houses, 4, 795.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Crucywel AP/CP       Crickhowell SubD       Crucywel Hundred       Crickhowel RegD/PLU       Brecknockshire AncC
Place: Crucywel

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.