in the 1830s. In 1832 most civil liberties were restored to Catholics and they became able to practise their faith more openly. A simple Gothic church, dedicated to St Michael and designed by Charles Hansom, was built in 1851 at a cost of £1,000. Military town The east end of town has two military establishments: Dering Lines, home to the Infantry Battle School (formerly Infantry Training Centre Wales) The Barracks, Brecon, home to 160th (Wales) Brigade. Approximately to the west of Brecon is Sennybridge Training Area, an important training facility for the British Army. Governance Brecon Town Council, based at Brecon Guildhall, represents the town at the local level, with up to fifteen councillors elected from four wards: St David's, St Mary's, St John's East and St John's West. The town elects a mayor annually. In May 2018 it elected its first mixed race mayor, local hotelier Emmanuel (Manny) Trailor, who is a town councillor for St John's West. Until 2022 there were three county council electoral wards in the town (St David Within, St John and St Mary) which each elected a county councillor to Powys County Council. All three are represented by Labour Party councillors, the St Mary ward being gained from the Conservatives in a November 2019 by-election. In 2018 a review of electoral arrangements proposed that all three Brecon county wards be merged into a single, three councillor ward. Education Brecon has primary schools, with a secondary school and further education college (Brecon Beacons College) on the northern edge of the town. The secondary school, known as Brecon High School, was formed from separate boys' and girls' grammar schools ('county schools') and Brecon Secondary Modern School, after comprehensive education was introduced into Breconshire in the early 1970s. The town is home to an independent school, Christ College, which was founded in 1541. Transport The junction of the east–west A40 (London-Monmouth-Carmarthen-Fishguard) and the north–south A470 (Cardiff-Merthyr Tydfil-Llandudno) is on the east side of Brecon town centre. The nearest airport is Cardiff Airport. Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal runs for between Brecon and Pontnewydd, Cwmbran. It then continues to Newport, the towpath being the line of communication and the canal being disjointed by obstructions and road crossings. The canal was built between 1797 and 1812 to link Brecon with Newport and the Severn Estuary. The canalside in Brecon was redeveloped in the 1990s and