Nonconformity and Dissent were active from 1640 in South East Wales, not least in the Abergavenny area. Independent congregations met in Monmouthshire in Llanvaches from 1639 and, Llanover and Abergavenny from the 1640s onwards, because this was the birthplace of William Wroth ‘the Apostle of Wales’, and Richard Symmonds, teacher of the famous Richard Baxter, and Trefela, the birthplace of Walter Craddock is only a few miles away.  

Before and during the Civil War, Abergavenny had a number of Protestant Dissenters and they flourished during the Commonwealth of Oliver Cromwell.  After the restoration of Charles II they were again persecuted and many left the area for the North American colonies in search of freedom of worship.  Between 1644 and 1685, almost 4,000 people from South Wales emigrated via Bristol to North America.

All Dissenting congregations had to be licensed by the local Justices and our earliest documents refer to these licences.  The house of John Watkins at Llanwenarth was licensed on 10^th August 1672, the only place of worship licensed for the Independents in this neighbourhood.  It appears that the few people who congregated in 1672 at John Watkins’ house at Llanwenarth succeeded in maintaining the cause alive until the Declaration of Toleration of 1688. At first Independents (Congregationalists) and Presbyterians shared a Board.  Although this chapel belonged to the Congregational Board when they split, it continued to be known as the Independent Chapel for over 200 years. 

1690 is regarded as a firm starting point, because at the end of 1690 the first Independent place of worship was opened in the town.  It was a broad room in Cross Street, on the corner of Monk Street.  It was in this room that the church congregated until 1707, when a chapel was built in Castle Street, near to the present chapel site.  The foundation stone of the present chapel was laid on 23 April, 1793 and the church was opened on 13 July 1794.  In 1839 “the church was re-built and extended to its present shape, so that it is now a wide room, with as many again of seats as were in the previous building.”  In the 1860s new pews were installed downstairs, replacing old ones which must have been the same as those still upstairs. 

The Dinwoodie clock, still seen here, joined the chapel in 1709.  It worked well until “cleaned and restored” in 2007!

On 5^th February 1838 Castle Street Independent Chapel was registered for the solemnisation of marriages.  Before July 1837, all marriages, apart from Roman Catholic and Quaker, were in the parish church. 

The stained glass windows were put up in memory of John and Elizabeth Jenkins by their sons William and John. The elder John was a grocer and gardener who lived in Chicken Street and later in Westgate Buildings in Castle Street.  He died in 1867 and his wife on 13^th February 1871.  The sons were carpenters and made their fortunes in South America, so being able to pay for the memorial windows as well as building themselves large houses, such as Linda Vista.

March 2^nd 1874      Church meeting      Rev S Clarke in the Chair.

Moved by Mr T Thompkins and seconded by Mr Jas Lodge that this meeting having heard from the chairman of the kind proposal of Messrs W & J Jenkins to put in two new stained windows in the east end of the chapel, improve the lighting, ventilation etc of the same, gratefully accept of the same, carried unanimously.  Moved by Mr Jas Lodge and seconded by Mr Jas Lewis that the necessary renovation of the Chapel – including painting colouring and whitewashing – on account of the foregoing improvements be left with the officers of the Church to manage.

In 1895 the adjacent manse was knocked down and a Sunday school room built.  This building had to be sold in 1970 to pay for necessary repairs to the chapel. 

The burial ground behind the chapel ceased interring in 1910 and in the 1960s part was converted into a garden, with tombstones being moved into the other half to stand against the wall.  The garden was used for outdoor play by the Montessori Nursery which used the Sunday School Room at this time.  In 2007-9 extensive repairs were carried out, funded by grants from CADW and a legacy from a lifelong member.  It is worth noting that electricity was installed in the chapel as late as 1948, paid for by the Women’s meeting.  (See plaque on pulpit.)

The organ has tracker action and is one of the few remaining pipe organs in the town.  It was installed here in 1906, having been bought from a London college, where it had been in use since the 1860s.  A plaque in the foyer informs that the loop hearing system was installed in memory of Dr Lloyd Davies, organist here for many years.