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Non-conformist Chapels in Wales

Wales has many, many chapels of various religious denominations other than the established church, the Church of Wales. Tracing ancestors can be a daunting task if you discover that they attended a non-conformist chapel or church; many towns had chapels on every corner of every street! In an attempt to make finding the various chapels in particular towns easier, a spreadsheet for each county has been created.

The links for each are listed below, but before using these spreadsheets, it is important to understand what can be found there and where additional information is available. Be aware that county boundaries changed in 1974 and again in 1996. Although the information was input by different individuals, there is remarkable consistency throughout the various county spreadsheets..

The links to the county spreadsheets (including the Welsh county names) are listed below:

Anglesey/Mon                             Flint/FFlint                                  Denbighshire/Dinbych

Caernarfonshire                           Merionethshire/Meirionnydd          Montgomeryshire/Trefaldwyn

Cardiganshire/Aberteifi                 Radnorshire/Maesyfed                 Carmarthenshire/Caerfyrddin

Breconshire/Brycheiniog               Monmouthshire/Mynwy               Glamorgan/Morgannwg

Pembrokeshire/Penfro

The spreadsheets have several columns with the following headings: County, District (in 1851 Census), Sub-district, Parish, Place (not listed separately in some spreadsheets), Chapel, Denomination, Christenings/Births, Marriages, Burials/Deaths, Cause Began/Chapel Erected, Archive, FS Library# or MS#, Monumental Inscriptions, Other Record Types, Sources and Notes. Most headings are self-explanatory but some need further explanation: the vital records columns show the dates of records available at the archives as indicated; the dates when the cause began or the chapel was erected distinguishes between when the denomination began in the area and when the membership erected a chapel; the archives listed are The National Archives (TNA), The National Library of Wales (NLW), County Record Offices or Family History Societies (--RO or --FHS), FS Library# indicates the number of the film, fiche or book located at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, whose catalog can be searched on-line, while MS# refers to a manuscript number in Archives Wales; sources are abbreviated for convenience but are referenced the first time each is used or at the beginning of the spreadsheet. Note that asterisks are used to indicate variations from the norm or to separate records and are explained in the notes or film information.

Sources used in the spreadsheets are as follows:

Cofrestri Anghydffurfiol Cymru/Nonconformist Registers of Wales, edited by Afydd Ifans and published by The National Library of Wales and The Welsh County Archivists' Group in 1994. This volume contains general information on nonconformism in Wales and a listing of all the record repositories for the various counties, including addresses and telephone numbers (in 1994!). The main body of the book contains chapels and the type of records available and where according to county.

The Religious Census of 1851: A Calendar of the Returns Relating to Wales, Vol I and II, edited by Ieuan Gwynedd Jones and David Williams and published by University of Wales Press in 1976. This book contains information on the actual census and then lists each county by the Civil Registration District and Sub-district at that time, with the chapels and parish church within each area. There is information on membership numbers and dates of origin for each place as provided to the census taker.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. The data used in the spreadsheets was collected from the section of the web site entitled "Coflein," which is the online database for the National Monuments Record of Wales. The records provide information about the various chapels in each community and list the dates when chapels were built and rebuilt, plus their present day usage. The record is on-going and, therefore, may have additional information to that found on the spreadsheets.

The Parish Churches and Nonconformist Chapels of Wales: Their Records and Where to Find Them, Volume One. This book was written by Bert J. Rawlins and published in 1987 by the Celtic Heritage Research, Salt Lake City, Utah. This volume contains an overview of the chapels in the area and then has detailed information for each county's chapels, but only deals with those in Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. Some of the most valuable detail is that of the origin of each chapel including from where members might have originated.

Archives Wales. This is an online catalog of the records in 21 archives in Wales. The website is part of the National Archives Network of the United Kingdom. The records can be searched by town or county and include all types of historical records including information on various chapels and larger administrative bodies in each area.