History

One of the churches built for the English speaking workers coming into the area, following the formation in 1862 of 'The Society for Promoting the Establishment and support of the English Congregational Churches in South Wales and Monmouthshire' . Subsequently The 'English Congregational Chapel Building Society' and the 'London Home Missionary Society' with the help of private donations were responsible for the erection of 35 chapels in the region. Trinity is a daughter church of Glyn Congregational Church in Risca. Cause first met in the Crosskeys Hotel and land for chapel acquired and building began in 1869. Major donor was Samuel Morley MP of Bristol and consultant architects Habershon and Pite, 'who undertook to see if it were possible to build permanent structures at as low a cost as iron buildings using the excellent building stone found in the district' (Jenkins). Church opened six months later in 1870. Churchyard commemorates victims of local disasters including those drowned when the Cwmcarn Reservoir burst in 1875 and the Flannel Factory by the Aqueduct was destroyed, also some of those who died in the Prince of Wales Colliery explosion of 1878, in which 119 men and boys were killed; earliest tombstone c 1872. Sunday School built 1911 and church extended by construction of organ loft which linked church and schoolroom; organ by Blackett and Howden. During the first quarter of this century congregations were large and under Rev Samuel 1916-26 there was a membership of over 250 and a Sunday School of over 550; strong musical tradition. New steps built 1917. During Depression schoolroom used to distribute goods to the unemployed. Electricity installed 1927 and ceiling panelled with Columbian pine.

Exterior

Chapel of coursed occasionally snecked rubble with dressings of pale ashlar and Bodmer's patent stone bricks; ashlar painted at entrance; Sunday School and E bay of nave rendered; Welsh slate roof to church, tiles to school, with overhanging bracketed eaves and boarded soffits. Plan of 6 bay chapel, the E end contemporary with the attached gabled Sunday School cross wing with porch. Set into the hillside, the W end facing downhill has antae continued diagonally to apex, a tripartite doorway with panelled doors and stepped round-headed arches with plain overlights and painted name inscription above; at gallery level is a matching tripartite window with small pane glazing to centre and roundels in heads to sides; keyed oculus in apex. Corners with decorative quoins and gable courses project slightly. This two dimensional quality is repeated on sides where each bay comprises a round arch to eaves height with decorative voussoirs and quoins; slighly recessed within the arch are the windows to each storey, round-headed with voussoirs and quoins to gallery, square-headed with lintels and quoins to ground floor, coved stone sills, metal framed glazing with single pane casements. Plinth. The later end uphill bay has a wooden Gothic-style window. Sunday School cross wing has nosed steps to central gabled porch with pointed arched doorway, double doors and hoodmould; 2 stepped windows to each side with similar window to E nave with hoodmoulds. Above in relief is an inscription panel with name and date and inset into walls numerous dedication stones.

Interior

Interior has raked galleries to four sides, to sides and rear with painted panelled fronts and zigzag decoration to base, supported on very slender cast iron columns. The organ gallery is set within a wide moulded-arched recess with inscription above and moulded motifs within the orders; decorative cast iron gallery front with Art Nouveau motif; a large organ occupies the gallery at first floor level. Below is the pulpit with double flight of steps with decorative balusters and finials, altar table below, door with coloured margin glazing to rear left. Ground floor has boarded walls, angled pews. Post-war ceiling with metal trusses and 2 ventilators, boarded roof to organ loft. Half glazed double doors to vestibule with terrazzo floor and the two gallery staircases. Sunday School has half-glazed schoolrooms numbered 1-10, all boarded in panels, central hall with stage, boarded dado and ceiling in panels; rear windows renewed.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a well-modelled mid-later C19 chapel with some early C20 additions, little altered subsequently.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29498352

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas