The Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal is a small network of canals in South Wales. For most of its currently (2018) navigable 35-mile (56 km) length it runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park, and its present rural character and tranquillity belies its original purpose as an industrial corridor for coal and iron, which were brought to the canal by a network of tramways and/or railroads, many of which were built and owned by the canal company.

Until 1974, Brecknockshire, also formerly known as the County of Brecknock, Breconshire, or the County of Brecon, was an administrative county in the south of Wales, later classed as one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales. Named after its county town of Brecon, the county was mountainous and primarily rural.