The Tabernacle Baptist Chapel, Ffwthog, near

Cwmyoy Cwmyoy is an extensive rural parish in Monmouthshire, Wales ( cy, Cwm Iou for the valley and parish, cy, Cwm-iou for the village). The standard Welsh name is ''Cwm Iau'' or ''Cwm-iau''. In the Gwentian dialect of Welsh that was spoken here until ...

, Monmouthshire is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, with attached manse, dating from 1837. Largely unaltered externally and internally, the chapel is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

History and description

The chapel was built in 1837 and carries the date in a tablet above the entrance

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

. The inscription reads; "''TABERNACLE Baptist Chapel ST. JT. Builders. 1837''." The manse is attached to the chapel, which has a Grade II* listing as "a little-altered example." The architectural historian John Newman describes the chapel as; "a simple gable-ended building." It is constructed of

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

rubble, with a Welsh slate roof. The porch is 20th century but the doors are original. The interior has a seating gallery on three sides, supported by

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

pillars. Newman reports; "long rows of hat-pegs at both levels."

Notes

References

* {{Cite book , last=Newman, first=John , authorlink=John Newman (architectural historian) , series=The Buildings of Wales , title=Gwent/Monmouthshire , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knRf4U60QjcC&dq=The+Buildings+of+Wales%3A+Gwent%2FMonmouthshire&pg=PA2 , year=2000 , publisher=Penguin , location=London , isbn=0-14-071053-1 Grade II* listed churches in Monmouthshire History of Monmouthshire Baptist churches in Wales