Cof Cymru: National Historic Assets of Wales · Wales
Cwm Glo Chapel
Troed-y-Rhiw, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
A scheduled monument in Troed-y-Rhiw, Merthyr Tydfil, recorded as Chapel (Post Medieval).
The record
- Designation
- Scheduled monument
- Site type
- Chapel
- Period
- Post Medieval
- Date of designation
- 13 July 2017
- Welsh name
- Capel Cwm Glo
- Community
- Troed-y-Rhiw
- Unitary authority
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Country
- Wales
- Coordinates (centre of the scheduled area)
- 51.73940, -3.39924
- SAM number
- GM610
- Cadw record number
- 4335
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamBayerische Staatsbibliothek, MunichUniversity Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
5 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1588 map "Ortelius, Abraham: Theatro De La Tierra Universal. 0" (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1588 · Ortelius, Abraham: Theatro De La Tierra Universal. 0 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich)
- 1608 · (13) Cambriae Typus. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1898 · 231 Merthyr Tydfil (Hills) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- [Kaart] (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
- Sheet 7 South Wales (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Cadw's description
Summary description and reason for designation
The monument comprises the remains of Cwm Glo Chapel, one of the earliest non-conformist chapels in South Wales. Merthyr Tydfil was a centre for Puritan Dissenters after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. The great Welsh preacher, Vavasour Powell, held open-air meetings in the area, but after his arrest in 1668, the faithful took to holding their meetings in a barn of the secluded Cwm Glo Farm. The Toleration Act of 1689 allowed the building of a permanent stone chapel, erected in Cwm Glo in 1690. The simple building was to remain the centre of Non-conformity in North Glamorgan for a further 60 years. It survived until 1749 when the lease expired and a new chapel, Ynysgau (Independent) was erected to take its place in the middle of Merthyr. Cwm Glo Chapel was left to become ruinous and the site now comprises low stone wall footings. The chapel lies in a hollow on the south side of Nant Llwynyreos. There are traces of a rectangular stone-walled yard containing the chapel. The walls of the chapel are made of Pennant sandstone rubble, and survive to a height of c. 0.9m. The building measures 14m in length by 6m transversely, with an addition to the south east.
The monument is of national importance as one of the earliest non-conformist chapels in south Wales, built immediately after the Toleration Act of 1689.
The site forms an important element within the wider post medieval landscape.
The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is irregular in shape on plan and measures 44m from NW to SE by up to 30m transversely.
Nearby in the register
- Cwmdu Air Shaft & FanAir Shaftunder 1 mi
- Cwm Glo pit and ironstone tipCollieryunder 1 mi
- Black Pins early ironstone workingsQuarryunder 1 mi
- Blaen Canaid FarmhouseDomesticunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.