Caersalem Newydd Chapel, Llangyfelach Road, Tirdenuaw, Swansea, Glamorgan

Description

Name: Caersalem Newydd Chapel

Denomination: Baptist

Built: 1840
Enlarged: 1873
Rebuilt: 1904

Photography: John Ball
Date: 21 Jan 1998
Camera: Agfa ePhoto307 digital compact

Note 1: Caersalem Newydd Baptist Chapel was built in 1840 and enlarged/rebuilt in 1873. The later chapel is constructed in the Classical style with two storeys and round-headed windows. Caersalem is now Grade 2 Listed for its fine pilastered facade and good interior detail. [Source: Coflein database of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (accessed 21 June 2015)]

Image 1:

Caersalem Newydd Baptist Chapel.

Note 2: Treboeth Manuscripts (Swansea University) David Davies was born in 1799. He was an apprentice bookbinder with Henry Bowen of Carmarthen and Neath and in 1819 went to work for Reverend Daniel Evans of Treboeth, minister and bookbinder. In 1823 David Davies set up his own bookbinding business in Treboeth. David Davies was also active in the Mynydd-bach Independent Chapel and was later one of the leaders of a movement to break away and which set up the Caersalem Newydd Baptist Church in 1840. In 1844 he became the minister of Bethania Baptist Church, Clydach. He retired from this position in 1866. David Davies died in 1874. David Davies' son David Rees Davies was born in 1825 and seems to have taken over his father's bookbinding business c1859. In 1869 he became minister in Glyn-neath and in 1874 he was made minister of Foxhole.

This collection of diaries, notebooks and account books provides insights into life in Treboeth in the early part of the nineteenth century, as well as into aspects of the bookbinding trade and religious feeling. [Source: Archive Wales website (accessed 21 Jun 2015)]
N.B. A further collection of the papers of Rev David Davies (1799-1874), Treboeth, and his son Rev David Rees Davies (1824-1916), Foxhole, is held at the National Library of Wales (NLW), Aberystwyth, under NLW MSS 22244-8. Donated in 1986 by Mrs M. G. Williams, Swansea, great-granddaughter of David Davies. [My thanks to Anna Brueton for this information]

Note 3: The Caersalem Newydd Baptist Chapel Roll of Honour commemorates 79 members of the chapel who served in the Armed Forces in the Great War. Only four are recorded as having died while serving. [Source: Peoples Collection Wales website (accessed 21 Jun 2015)]

Note 4: Photographs of the interior of the chapel are included on the BBC's World War One at Home feature (accessed 21 Jun 2015)]

• http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/churches/swansea8.htm (link opens in new window)