The Archdeacon of Brecon is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church in Wales Diocese of Swansea and Brecon. The archdeacon is the senior priest with responsibility over the area of the archdeaconry of Brecon, which comprises the five rural deaneries of Brecon, Builth, Crickhowell, Hay and Maelienydd.
The first recorded archdeacons of Brecon occur soon after the Norman Conquest in the Diocese of St David's, based in a fortified palace at Llan-ddew. However, no territorial titles are recorded until after c. 1125. Following the disestablishment of the Church in Wales in 1920, the Archdeaconry of Brecon was separated from St David's diocese in 1923 to become the new Diocese of Swansea and Brecon, and subdivided into the present two archdeaconries of Brecon (redefined) and Gower.
1115–1120 Elias
1120–1148 Jordan
1174–1176 Gerald of Wales (de Barri)
1203–1208 Gerald de Barri (the younger)
1253 John
1259 Roger of Christchurch
1274 John de Fecham
1274 Henry de Villa Amlof
1278–1303 Adam Bareth
1328 Philip ap Hywel
1345, 1366 Gruffudd ap Rhys
1389–1408 Morgan ab Einion
1408 Richard Gyldesford
1408–? Roger Stafford
1437–1456 David Chirbury (previously Bishop of Dromore, 1431)
1504–1523 William Walter
1523–?1540 Richard Fetherston (hung, drawn and quartered for papacy, 1540)
1554–1559 John Blaxton
1559–1560 George Constantine
1560–? William Downeham
1567-? William Blethyn (died 1590) (also Bishop of Llandaff, 1575)
1643–1671 William Nicholson (also Bishop of Gloucester, 1660)
1671–1704 Timothy Halton (also Archdeacon of Oxford, 1675)
?1704–1708 Roger Griffith
1708–1736 Joseph Stephens
c.1720 Richard Davies
1736–1759 Thomas Payn
1759–1763 Thomas Eynon
1763–1805 Edward Edwards
1805–1859 Richard Davies (the younger)
1859–1875 Richard Payne Davies
1875–1895 Henry de Winton
1895–1907 (ret.): William Bevan (father of Edward)
1907–1923 (res.): Edward Bevan (afterwards Suffragan Bishop of Swansea, 1915)
1923: Archdeaconry redefined as part of the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon
1923–1939 (ret.): Church Jones
1939–1947 (ret.): Henry Stewart
1947–1955: Richard Cole-Hamilton
1955–1969 (ret.): William Wilkinson
1969–1978 (ret.): Thomas Griffiths
1979–1987 (res.): Owain Jones (afterwards Archdeacon of Gower, 1987)
1987–1994 (ret.): Wynford Rees
1994–1999 (res.): Brian James
1999–2003 (ret.): Elwyn Crebey John
2002–2013 (ret.): Randolph Thomas
2013–present: Alan Jevons
