Nantgwyn English Baptist Chapel, Nantgwyn, near Pant-y-dŵr, St Harmon, Radnorshire
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Name: Nantgwyn Chapel
Denomination: Baptist
Built: 1792
Rebuilt: 1877
Note 1: The Church was formed in 1766 and the first chapel was built in 1792, with a hipped roof. This was rebuilt in 1877/8 to the design of W Evans of "Rhayader", in the Sub-Classical and Arts and Craft style, and being a gable entry type. This building presumably replaced the chapel of the same name built in 1792, which was in the Simple Round-Headed style, being a long-wall entry type.
[From Coflein database, NPRN 8310]
Note 2. When the Baptist chapel was rebuilt at Nantgwyn in 1877, bricks of contrasting colour were used, to give the impression of Classical pillars.
[Extract from p. 82 of Marching to Zion - Radnorshire Chapels, by J. B. Sinclair and R. W. D. Fenn, published 1990 by Cadoc Books, Kington; ISBN 0-9516865-0]
South Wales Daily News 26 Oct 1898
accessible on National Library of Wales website.
Note 3. The origins of the nonconformist cause that we know today as Nantgwyn Baptist Church go back much earlier than the present 1877 building. As early as 1656 Christian believers were meeting at Garthfawr and it is on record that meetings were held at Blaenglyn (between Llidiartywaun and Llanidloes) even before that time. For many years the owner occupier of Nantgwyn Farm had also opened his house for public worship, so as the future of worship at Garthfawr was uncertain it was resolved to build a chapel at a Nantgwyn, about a mile from Pant-y-dwr railway station. In 1792 the first chapel at Nantgwyn was built.
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In 1850, Rev David Davies, a preacher with the Calvinistic Methodists, became minister at Nantgwyn. From 1859 onwards, he preached at an increasing number of other chapels, too. He had a leg amputated as a youth and was limited to riding on horseback to all his engagements, but in 1886 he decided to resign from the pastorate for reasons of age and infirmity. In March 1877, the foundation stone of a new chapel at Nantgwyn was laid. It was opened in June 1878, having been built at a cost of £1260. In 1884, land was donated to provide a further burial yard, adjacent to the new chapel [on its south side] (see satellite image below).
[Note 3 data from the former St Harmon Community website at www.santharmon.org (no longer available)]
Photography: John Ball
Date: 20 May 1999
Cameras: Agfa ePhoto307 digital and Sigma SA-300 35 mm SLR
Above and below: The original burial yard lies neglected, a short distance north of the chapel on
the opposite side of the B4518 road (see satellite image at bottom of page).
Below: Nantgwyn Chapel, view from the east, near Rhosgoch-fach
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