Written by John Addis from Crickhowell:

Police Stations, Lock-ups and the Market Hall

"According to Jones History of Brecknock, Crickhowell had a lock-up in 1814. The market and town hall was built by the Lord of the Manor, the Duke of Beaufort in 1833/4. The architect was Henry Wyatt. The cells were believed to be at the rear of the market hall.

The upper rooms were used as a magistrate's courtroom until the late 1980s. During the early part of the 19th century the cells for prisoners were removed from the magistrate's court to leasehold premises in New Road, (now No. 4 New Road). They were used in the New Road premises until the year of 1878. Now a private dwelling, the present owner has refurbished the property and has sympathetically kept the old cells intact.

A new police station was built at the top of Bridge Street in 1877/8 and was demolished in the middle of the 1960s to make way for a more modem one built on the same site. The station is still used today and the builders were J. G. Thomas of Abergavenny.

The Toll Gates

An Act of Parliament was passed to widen and repair roads in the Brecknock County. This resulted in all main roads being "Turnpiked". First introduced in Monmouth in 1755, the South Wales "Turnpike" Act governed main roads of South and Mid Wales, until the establishment of County Councils. The roads were then purchased by the County and the turnpike gates removed. By 1895 the last official tollgate was believed to be in Anglesey.

Tollgates in the Crickhowell district were on either side of the entrance to the town. Approaching from Brecon, the tollgate was situated opposite Glanant, where now stands the Bevan memorial drinking shelter. The tolls from the tollgate went to the parish of Crickhowell.

Before you entered Crickhowell, on the Brecon side of the town and outside the Tollgate, stood two cottages with the White Hart Inn between them. Today the cottages and inn are one (as a public house).

The story goes that the tollgate at this point so annoyed the drovers and smallholders that they started crossing the river Usk by a ford below Glanusk Farm, which resulted in the non-payment of tolls. But at a parish meeting held on the 26th April 1838, with W R Stretton in the Chair, "it was resolved that the Surveyors of the Parish do forthwith make application to Her Majesty's Justices in Petty Sessions to stop the highway leading to the ford".

This was obtained and on the 26th July 1838 at a Parish meeting, Joseph Bailey was asked if he would purchase the road, as he owned the adjacent land. The valuation for the road was set at £45. Mr Bailey doubled the sum and agreed to pay all expenses for stopping the road. This resulted in no short cut to the town, making every traveller and drover pay to use the tollgate.

On the other side of Crickhowell, as you enter from Abergavenny, the tollgate was situated opposite the present day Elvicta industrial site. The field behind was known as "Tollgate field". It was in the Vale of Grwyney Parish, so the tolls were paid to the Grwyney parish.

A third tollgate was on the Crickhowell to Gilwern road opposite the top entrance to Dan-y-Park. The present day road has been altered and the existing cottage which was the old tollgate, is set back off the road. In the 1880s William Addis, my great-grandfather was the gatekeeper at Dan-y-Park tollgate.

Another tollgate stood on the cross roads by Ty Llangenny farm. Mr. David Rumsey from Ty Llangenny farm mentions that his great uncle remembered the old stone shelter that housed the gate keeper, and the field is still known as "Toll Gate Field".

Chapels & Churches:

There were five known chapels in the Crickhowell area. The Weslyan chapel in Tower Street was built in 1851 and closed in the 1960s. Today the building is a garage for a haulage company.

The Welsh Methodist chapel in Lamb Lane was built in the early 19th century. The chapel had a completely Welsh-speaking congregation. Closure came just before the Second World War and the chapel lay empty until the middle of the 1950s when it was turned into a garage for cars to park. In 1997, planning was given to turn the building into a dwelling.

Dan-y-castle Presbyterian Chapel in Castle Road was built in 1805 and is still very strong in its worship. In 1960 when I was working on repairs to Dan-y-Castle Chapel, I found an old Sunday school register. It was thrown out with other rubbish that was to be burnt in the old boiler house. The register is quite tattered but goes back to 1859 and up to 1886. Parts are written in Welsh.

Bethabara Baptist Chapel at the lower end of Bridge Street was built in 1840 and still has a strong congregation. Baptism still takes place in the River Usk by the side of the chapel. Evidence can still be found at 6 Castle Road of an old chapel but little is known about it.

There is also a Catholic Church on Brecon Road, which still has a strong congregation. The church was built in the 1930s and is known as St. Joseph's. The building attached to the church used to be a school and later became a convent for nuns. It is now a private dweiling. The house next door was built on the site of a domestic garage and was built after the church. The priest's house was across the road opposite the church.

The Evangelical church was started in July 1976, nine years later (1985) they moved to a permanent address in Silver Lane. The services are held in the modern building behind the Market Hall. (The building was first built to house a Health Centre for the County in the 1950s). I thank Mr Robert Davies for this information."

Article written by John Addis from Crickhowell.