fercnce is very near 50 feet ; the inner diameter at top is G feet 7 inches, the thickness of the wall 2 feet 10 inches, and the circumference 38 feet 8 inches. These proportions give the building a high degree of elegance. The top is roofed with an octagonal spire 18 feet high, which makes the whole height of the building 101 feet 9 inches. Brechin Castle, which was a place of some strength during the Wars of the Independence, now a seat of Lord Dalhousie, lies a little to the south of the town. There is a public park near the town, and two large nurseries. There are three extensive power-loom linen factories (one of them a build ing of much taste), two bleach-fields, two distilleries, a brewery, and a paper-work; and extensive freestone quarries exist in the neighbourhood. The town is lighted with gas, and an ample supply of water has been introduced at great expense. Weekly markets are held on Tuesdays; and statutory fairs for horses, cattle, and sheep are held at Trinity Muir, about a mile north of the town. Brechin unites with Montrose, Arbroath, Forfar, and Bervie in returning one member to parliament. The population of the parliamentary burgh was in 1871, 7959; and of the
royal burgh, 5083.
Brechin is a place of great antiquity, and was chosen by the Culdees as the site of one of their convents. It is said to have been burned by the Danes in 1012. In 1150 it was erected into a bishopric by David I. In 1572 James VI. gave a grant for founding a hospital in the burgh, which still supplies the magistrates with funds for charity. In 1645 the town and castle wereharried by the marquis of Montrose. Maitland the topographer and Gillies the historian of Greece were natives of Brechiu.
BRECON, or Brecknockshire, an inland county in South Wales. Its greatest length from south to north is about 53 miles, and its greatest breadth from east to west about 46 miles. It possesses an area of 719 square miles, or 460,158 acres, and is thus the fourth largest county in Wales. It is said to have derived its name from Brychan, a Welsh prince, who flourished in the fifth century.
The Old Red Sandstone is the principal geological forma tion in this county, and occupies the whole of the central portion from east to west. Along the southern boundary there extends a narrow belt of carboniferous limestone, millstone grit ("farewell rock" of the miners), and the outcrop of the coal beds, together forming the northern rim of the coal measures in the great South Wales coal-field. At Clydach in Llanelly, Brynmawr, Hirwaun, and a few other places on the south-eastern border of the county, there are extensive iron-works. The narrow projecting part of the county to the north, lying between Radnor and Cardigan, is occupied by the Upper and Lower Silurian beds ; and there is a somewhat singular narrow peninsula of the former projecting into the Red Sandstone for a dis tance of ten miles, in a S. W. direction, and terminating at about five miles north of the town of Brecon. A belt of limestone extends from the town of Hay on the east, and passing in a S.W. direction through the town of Brecon, terminates at the Brecknockshire Van. A prominent band extends along the border of the Old Red Sandstone on the N.W., where it joins the Silurian beds.
The general aspect of the county is mountainous, and the scenery is marked by beauty and grandeur. A chain of the loftiest mountains in South Wales completely encircles the south, composed in the east of the Black Mountains, 2545 feet in height, and the curious Sugar Loaf rising to the height of 1760 feet. On the west of Brecknockshire are the Van and Talsarn mountains 2596 feet, and Mount Capellante 2394 feet in height; while the centre of the crescent is occupied by the masses of the Brecknockshire Beacons, the highest point of which, Cader Arthur, or Arthur s Chair, attains an altitude of 2910 feet. In the north, a range of barren hills, called Mynydd Bwlch Jroes at the most westerly end and Mynydd Epynt towards the east, enters the boundary of the county at a short distance from Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, and extending in a N.E. direction, terminates near Builth.
Of the valleys the most distinguished for beauty is that of the Usk, stretching from east to west, and dividing the county into two nearly equal portions. The Wye is the chief river, and forms the boundary on the N. and N.E. from Rhayader to Hay, a distance of upwards cf twenty miles ; while the Towy, the Afon Claerwen, and the Elan separate the county from Cardigan and Radnor on the N.W. and N. The Usk rises in the Carmarthenshire Van on the west, and flowing in a direction nearly due east through the centre of the county, collects the waters from the range of the Beacons in the south, and from Mynydd Bwlch Groes and Mynydd Epynt in the north, by means of numerous smaller streams (of which the Tarell and the Honddu are the most important), and enters the county of Monmouth near Abergaveny. The Taff, the Hepstau, and the Tawe, all rise on the south of the Beacon range, and pass ing through Glamorganshire, flow into the British Channel.
Llyn Safaddu, Llangorse Lake, or Breckinioc Mere, the largest lake in South Wales, is situated at the foot of the Black Mountains, and within the county. It covers an extent of nearly 1800 acres, and is about two miles long- by one mile broad. Upon an artificial island in the lake traces of habitations raised on piles have lately been dis covered, together with the bones of red deer, wild boar, and Bos longifrons. Tradition affirms that beneath the lake is a submerged town, which has been rashly identified with the Roman station Loventiiim.
The climate is moist, but temperate and salubrious; and the soil of the valleys, often consisting of rich alluvial deposits, is very fertile. The cultivated crops consist of wheat, oats, barley, rye, turnips, pease, potatoes, and vetches ; of these the greater part is consumed within the county. The uplands are chiefly in pasture, and are stocked with sheep, cattle, and ponies, which with wool, butter, and oak-bark, form the staple of a considerable trade with the adjoining English counties, and with the iron districts lying to the south. The farms are generally small, but are well cultivated in the lower parts of the county. The highland occupiers are a very humble, hard-working class of men. It is calculated that about two-thirds of the lands in the county are enclosed.
Breconshire is intersected by the Mid Wales, Brecon, and Merthyr Railway, and a branch of the London and North- Western, by means of which there is ready com munication with all parts of the kingdom.
The principal towns are Brecon, Builth, Crickhowel, and Hay. The county returns one member to parliament, and has done so since 1536. The political influence is chiefly in the hands of Lord Tredegar and Sir Joseph Bailey. Constituency in 1875, 3574. Rents in the valley of the Usk and around Brecon are high, but on the mountain lands very low ; it would be deceptive to give an average per acre. The annual value of real property paying income-tax is 316,208. The population of the county by the last census was 59,901, giving an average of 83 persons to a square mile, or 7 68 acres to each person. Of the total number 29,928 were males, and 29,973 females. The number of inhabited houses was 12,617, giving an average of 17 5 inhabited houses to a square mile, and 4 7 persons to each house. The following returns show an increase of population amounting to 34 per cent, during the last fifty years:—
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1821 43,826 1831 47,763 1841 55,603 1851 61,474 1861 61,627
1871 59,901