Eighteenth-century stonemasons in the Black Mountains

The churches in the Black Mountains of the South Wales borderland contain an exceptional number of 18th-century stone wall tablets commemorating people from various social classes. Many of the stones were signed by local masons and it is possible to recognise both families and individuals at work, and determine the market areas they exploited. The most colourful of these monuments were produced by three generations of the Brute family from Llanbedr in south-eastern Breconshire. Each member of the family created his own distinctive style, but while Thomas Brutes products were distributed widely, competition at the end of the 18th century restricted his grandsons work to a limited area around Llanbedr.