The Village Quire

Maesyronnen Chapel

Set in a peaceful rural situation, on the Radnor side of the beautiful upper Wye Valley, the Chapel of Maesyronnen (tr. Field a/the Ash Tree) has stood for over 300 years. Since at least 1696 people have come together and worshipped God there.

Locally there was a network of 'meeting houses' which came under the general name of the Llanigon Church. This encompassed a wide area comprising Brecon, Radnor, Monmouth, Carmarthen and Glamorgan and it is now generally accepted that there was an organised gathered Church at Llanigon before 1650.

The Foundation of Maesyronnen Chapel, the first Independent Chapel in Wales, followed the passing of the Act of Toleration of 1689. The Chapel was built (or converted) on land belonging to and, at least partly financed by, Charles Lloyd who died in 1698. The Chapel was completed by 1696, and it was registered at the Quarter Sessions at Presteigne in 1697.

The building is a rare and important example of a very early Nonconformist Chapel which has survived almost intact. It consists of a plain rectangular chapel 50ft by 22ft 6ins on an east west axis with a small house attached to the west end. On entering, note the medieval cruck truss of an earlier wooden structure. This was replaced in Elizabethan times by a stone building of two storeys and a doorway was added to the area now occupied by the Chapel for the purpose of a bam or cowshed. The original windows with plain wooden mullions and transoms have survived, but even where there have been alterations it does not detract from the general feeling of antiquity. The box pews are contemporary with the building and although the pulpit has been slightly changed and lowered it fits well with the other furniture. The communion table displays six turned legs and together with the mould on the frame suggests a date even earlier than the date of the building's completion.

Could it be that Maesyronnen is the site where people worshipped before the Chapel existed? The experts tell us that the building was quite probably a cowshed in the Elizabethan period. So, we ask the unanswerable, is this Y Beudy?

Y Beudy quite literally means 'The Cowshed' and was one of a number of meeting houses used by the Llanigon Church. There has long been a local belief that Oliver Cromwell attended a service at Y Beudy during the Commonwealth and it is also said that Vavasor Powell, one of the more dominant Puritan leaders began his itinerant preaching at Y Beudy.

Refurbisment of the building began in the summer of 2007 and work was completed early in 2008. The main purpose of the work was to put a new roof on the building, essential in this very exposed position. This also meant a new ceiling on the inside and provided the opportunity to lime wash the walls both inside and out. Additionally a new toilet with wheelchair access has been provided, together with much needed storage space. This work will give the worshippers at Maesyronnen good reason to look forward to the future and to the prospect of further generations of worshippers here.