Watergate Baptist Church - Brecon, Powys - Baptist Churches on Waymarking.com

Watergate Baptist Church, built 1806, stands below the castle, overlooking the Llanfaes Bridge over the river Usk in Brecon.

"The Baptists were busy in Breconshire in the middle of the 17th century and Brecon town itself was the venue for a meeting in 1656 to launch a campaign to outwit the Quakers, who two years previously had embarked on a great mission to win converts. A chapel was built at Maesyberllan to the north east of Brecon in 1746 and in 1805 premises were purchased at Watergate, close to the confuence of the Honddu and Usk rivers, for a daughter chapel to Maesyberllan. It was built and opened for worship on 1st January 1806.

In 1809 the Rev, John Evans, son of the founder, came to Brecon. He opened a Sunday School at Watergate and preached in Welsh, but in 1817 he started preaching in English on Sunday evenings. The chapel rapidly increased in numbers and posterity and for some six years English and Welsh members were content. Inevitably, friction developed and on 28th January 1823 an English Baptist congregation was formed which, however still worshipped at Watergate, until the following year, when they moved into new premises at Kensington.
In time the chapel became too small, so it was rebuilt in 1880 at a cost of £2000 and with the addition of a schoolroom and vestry.

Watergate is a grade II listed building and has group value with the former Watergate Hill and subsidiary building, together with the south wall of the great hall of Brecon Castle and the southern elevation of the Castle of Brecon Hotel."

SOURCE - (visit link) (pdf)

Date Built: 01/01/1806 Age of Church building determined by?: Cornerstone or plaque Church Address: Watergate Baptist Church Brecon, Powys Wales Service Times: Not listed Website: Not listed

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