Plans to preserve the heritage of Brecon’s 1,000-year-old cathedral have taken a step forward thanks to a substantial lottery grant.

Brecon Cathedral has secured £158,297 for its ‘People, Passion, Priory: Brecon Cathedral, The Heart and Soul of Community’ project.

This project hopes to attract more people – including tourists, to Brecon Cathedral with a new exhibition, a digital trail and a range of events and activities.

It will allow a wider range of people including families, young adults and disabled people to benefit from the cathedral’s unique and inspirational space and heritage.

‘People | Passion | Priory: Brecon Cathedral, The Heart and Soul of Community’ will also see improved access to the cathedral with a new west entrance and repairing four of the building’s 150-year-old roofs.

The repair work to the roofs is planned to be carried out by local people who will be trained through an NVQ Level 3 heritage roofing training programme.

Brecon Cathedral
The repair work to the roofs is planned to be carried out by local people (Brecon Cathedral)

The Very Reverend Dr Paul Shackerley, Dean of Brecon, said:

“Everyone at Brecon Cathedral is absolutely delighted that we’ve received this support thanks to National Lottery players. It will transform our cathedral and what we can offer to our local community and those who visit from far and wide.

“The support will enable us to establish a national training scheme in heritage skills, interpret our rich and living history for new generations, and provide equal access to our building for all.”

The grant was one of two announced today, with the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn revealed as the recipient of £110,000 award for its ‘Talyllyn Railway: Preserving Our Past Building Our Future’ project.

The grants will allow the Talyllyn Railway Company and Brecon Cathedral to draw up detailed plans about how to deliver their projects and apply for delivery funding.

Andrew White, Wales Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund said:

“Heritage is for everyone and it can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations and The National Lottery Heritage Fund is one of Wales’ main funders of heritage organisations and heritage projects.

“We are thrilled to award project development funding to both of these exciting projects. This will allow both organisations to develop their plans so that they can apply to us at a later date for further funding to deliver these projects.”