The Independent cause at Llanfaches was established in 1639 and was the first independent, and first nonconfomist, cause to be so established in Wales. It was established under the leadership of Rev. William Wroth, who had been ejected from his living in 1638, with the support of the Rev Henry Jessey of Southwark, the first Independent church in the UK.The cause utilised various houses and barns of it's members as meeting places for worship and the vigour of it's lefe and growth led to it variously being nicknamed the 'Antioch of the Independents' and the 'Jerusalem of Wales'. Within two years there were brances of the cause as Mynydd Islwyn, Cardiff and swansea. Wroth was succeeded as minster after his death in 1642 by Walter Cradock. He, with other male members of fighting age, moved to Parliamentarian-held Bristol for the duration of the Civil War, but on his return found that the remaining members had been so proactive that some 800 new members had been added to the church. After the war, Cradock, henry Walter and richard Symmonds were commissioned by parliament as itinerant preachers, and Thomas Edwins became minister at Llanfaches. Between 1646 and 1660 the state church was made free for religious use and the Independents used the parish church. In 1651 Rev Thomas Barnes succeeded Edwins, remaining at Llanfaches until 1703. After the 1662 Act of Uniformity, members had to meet in secret in various houses, inlcuing that of Nathan Rogers in the parish of Llanfaches. Memebrs numbered some 500 with the preachers recorded as Thomas Barnes, Henry Walter, Rice Evans, Joshua Lloyd and Watkin Jones. After the Act of Toleration in 1689 some 30 houses in the area were licensed for preaching, but by 1770 the cause started meeting at a chapel in Carrow Hill. The 1715 'List of seperatist Churches' by John Evans recorded Llanfaches as having 236 members, 6 of whom were Gentlemen, 16 men who lived on their own land, 28 business men, 19 farmers and 30 workmen.
The land to build Tabernacle was gifted by Thomas Lewis of Llanfaches, on a 999 year lease for one peppercorn a year (if demanded). The chapel, House, etc… is shown on the tithe map of 1843 with David Thomas as the occupier and the Trustees as owners. Built in the Vernacular style, with square haeded windows, in 1924 the chapel was remodelled and and the William Wroth memorial hall added to the western end of the building. Since the 1950s further work has been carrie dout, including the replacement of windows with UPVC rerendering and painting of the exterior of the chapel.
This chapel is now Grade II Listed, despite modernisation, for the special historic interest of its association with William Wroth and early Non-Conformism in Wales and due to the fact that it is 'alleged to incorporate fragments of the original C17 chapel' in the south elevation. All internal fittings are 19th century, fitting with a construction date of 1802/3.
RCAHMW, May 2025