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Glamorgan Chapel database project

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The individual Genuki parish pages already have details of extant data of non-conformist chapels in Glamorgan which have extant records deposited in a public archive - largely based on the content of Nonconformist Registers of Wales published by the National Library of Wales in 1994.
The purpose of this project is to expand on this data - to include chapels that don't have such extant records - and are therefore currently not recorded at all on Genuki - the aim being to compile as complete a list as possible of non-conformist chapels in each parish together with as much information about each one that can be gathered together from a variety of sources.

I, or other volunteers, will create an initial list for each parish from sources available - and then (hopefully) expand this by requests to the members of the Glamorgan mailing list - taking specific parishes in turn with responses to pass through the Glamorgan list

Not an exhaustive list but I anticipate a range of data to include;

  • The existence of a chapel at certain dates, the name of the minister, the denomination
  • The date a chapel was established/built/extended, an exact address, OS grid reference, membership numbers
  • Whether a chapel had its own graveyard, and if there are any known records if so
  • Extant baptism, marriage, burial records not already recorded, including any known to be still with the chapels themselves
  • The date a chapel closed
  • Any publication relating to a chapel
  • Any online site or photographs relating to a chapel
  • An example of a non-Genuki chapel database can be seen on Cwmgors/Gwauncaegurwen

The sources of data might be;

  • Marriage certificates
  • Obituaries, newspaper reports, articles in journals
  • Local history books, including any histories of the chapels themselves
  • Trade Directories eg Kellys, Pigots
  • Personal knowledge/research
  • Copyright must be born in mind - simple facts such as OS grid references, addresses, denominations, when a chapel was built/rebuilt etc are OK to take (in my opinion) but don't copy/paste data generally

Each parish will have a separate chapel database page, with chapels grouped by denomination
The source type of each item of data will be shown e.g personal; marriage cert; name of book etc

(For an explanation of the various non-conformist denominations see Wales - Genealogy Help Pages )

The names of volunteers who assisted with particular parishes are shown on those pages

Gareth Hicks Sept 2005

Sources

 

This is an initial list, there will be others - e.g those linked from the existing parish page

Online

Books/cds etc

I have;

  • My Ancestors were Congregationalists in England and Wales, by D J H Clifford, SOG, 1992.
  • Kelly's Directory, South Wales 1895 - the Archive CD Books Cd
  • Kelly's Directory, South Wales 1910 - the Archive CD Books Cd
    (The earlier C19th directories only seem to have useful coverage of larger towns as far as chapels are concerned)
  • Jones, I.G. & Williams, D. The Religious census of 1851 : A Calendar of the returns relating to Wales, Vol 1, South Wales. UWP, Cardiff, 1976

I don't have;

  • My Ancestors were Methodists by William Leary, SOG, 3rd ed. 1999
  • My Ancestors were Baptists, by Geoffrey Breed, SOG, 4th ed.

There is also;

  • Chapel Photographic Survey of West Glam Chapels. Held at West Glam Archives Swansea (D/D CPS).

 

[Last Updated : 17 May 2007 - Gareth Hicks]