Cwm Glo Chapel

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.