Pencelli Estate
In 1999 the Company acquired the Welsh Pencelli Estate as an area that could
be used by the Regiment for military and adventurous training. The historic estate
lies in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park and comprises approximately
14,000 acres of hill land that is subject to common rights of grazing.
The HAC has the mineral rights for the Estate and the ownership of the Manorial
title.
The Estate offers excellent walking opportunities over an unspoilt area of the
Welsh countryside. There is a scheduled Ancient Monument located on Buarth Y
Caerau in the South East of the Estate.
Historical note
The Brecon area formed part of the ancient Kingdom of Brycheiniog (founded by
Brychan, a Prince of Irish descent). There are remains of the Roman road from
Y Gaer to the Fortress at Caerleon and evidence of bath houses dating from the
reign of Constantine I.
In the late 11th century the area came under attack from the Norman's led by
Bernard of Neufmarche who, after the battle of Brecon, established himself as
'Lord of Brecon', part of which was the land making up Welsh Pencelli.
Subsequently the land passed through the hands of; Miles of Gloucester, his daughter
Bertha, Reginald de Breos, then, when his wife took a second husband, to Ralph
Mortimer.
During the reigns of Edward I and Edward II Pencelli divided into two parts,
English Pencelli and Welsh Pencelli. English Pencelli consisting of the more
fertile lower land of the Usk Valley whilst Welsh Pencelli was a more mountainous,
upland area inhabited by a Welsh community of some 300 tenants who had to fight
for the Lord of the Manor in time of war and pay small yearly sums for the 'rights
of the forest'.
The Mortimer family remained in ownership of the estate until, after a family
decline, it came into the hands of the Earl of Hereford, Humphry Bohun who's daughter,
Mary, married Henry Bolinbroke, later Henry IV. This marriage brought the Estate
into the possession of the crown where, apart from brief grants to other noblemen
it remained until 1817.
In 1817 it was sold to Charles Clifton, then to the Buckland Estate and finally
to the present owners in the early part of this century.