COBB, JOSEPH RICHARD (1821-1897), antiquary
[b. 25 April 1821, at Broughton castle, Oxon.]. By profession he was a lawyer, and also a promoter of railways; it was he, e.g., who got the ‘Brecon and Merthyr Railway’ constructed. His chief interest, however, was in antiquities, and he was a prominent member of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. He played a leading part in the restoration of the priory church (now the cathedral) at Brecon (see his Short Account of S. John the Evangelist … at Brecon, 1874), and of Manorbier castle; and he bought and thoroughly restored the castle of Caldicot, near Chepstow. He d. 6 Dec. 1897, at Brecon [and is commemorated by a memorial in Brecon cathedral].
Bibliography:
- Bye–Gones, 1897, 256;
- Theophilus Jones, Hist. Brecknock. (3rd ed.), ii, 83-6, 160, iv, 47;
- [information from Mr J. C. Parry de Winton, Brecon].
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D., F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor.
