Sirhowy Primitive Methodist chapel

The  Primitive Methodist Magazine of March 1854 contains an account by Joseph Hibbs of the opening of Sirhowy Primitive Methodist chapel in the Tredegar Circuit. This was on 8th January 1854 and was not made any easier by the fact that the roads were covered by eight or nine feet of snow and were impassable; for four days the snow was 25 feet deep in places.  However the services were well attended “chiefly by inhabitants of the place” – not surprising really.  Sermons were preached by Rev. C Smallman of Presteign and Rev J White.

The building is a “substantial and neat edifice,”37′ long x 30′ wide and 17′ from floor to ceiling. “We have a flourishing society of about 100 members and a Sunday-school of nearly 100 scholars and a congregation on average of between 200 and 300 hearers.”

The 1879 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey map shows Sirhowy Primitive Methodist chapel located just off Beaufort Road in what is now Rhoslan, just round the corner from the current Sirhowy Senior Citizens Hall. Google Street View in 2011 shows the site as occupied by two new houses.

I was a bit surprised to find in the July edition of the Primitive Methodist magazine a brief account, also by Joseph Hibbs of the re-opening of Sirhowy Primitive Methodist chapel on April 9th 1854.  Perhaps it was the result of the deep snow.

Reference

Primitive Methodist Magazine March 1854 p 178

Primitive Methodist Magazine July 1854 p 4428-429