Nash Baptist Chapel Pye Corner
A former chapel In Nash
Nash Baptist Chapel stands opposite Pye Corner Farm, the home of William and Ann Watkins for forty years. The couple moved in around 1854 and had nine children whilst living at the farm, these included our great-grandmother Rosa Watkins born in 1867. All nine of the Watkins children were baptised at Nash Baptist Chapel.
Pye Corner is in Nash, a small village and community to the south of the city of Newport. The name is thought to originate from a contraction of “An Ash” (tree), meaning literally `place of the ash tree(s)’. Nash and nearby Goldcliff, are two of the few villages to appear on the Cambriae Typus map of 1573.
Nash Baptist Chapel, sometimes referred to as Pye Corner Baptist Chapel, was built in 1822 and is situated on the road leading from the eastern side of Newport to the Parish of Nash. It is a simple building constructed in the round-headed style of the gable-entry type and has a small graveyard. It had seating for 125 and was initially well attended with the congregation including residents from the hamlet of Lliswerry, a mile away.
The chapel contained a covered immersion baptismal font and a rare pedal organ built and played (well into his nineties) by the late Mr. Alfred. W. Haime (Alf to his friends), a Master Baker from Earlswood in Shirenewton. Alfred was buried in the chapel graveyard.
In 1889 a Baptist chapel opened in Lliswerry; this had an immediate impact on attendances at Nash Baptist Chapel. A steady decline that continued over the next 100 years and resulted in the chapel closing its doors in 2004. At this time there were only five regular worshippers.
With the church closed the graveyard quickly became overgrown and many of the graves were hard to find. In 2006 a planning application was made to Newport City Council to convert the building into a dwelling house with vehicular access. The application was successful and the former chapel is now a family home in private ownership. Despite the change, the external view of the building remains very similar.
The graveyard is again open to the public and is excellent condition. The graves have all been photographed and transcribed by the Gwent Family History Society. This useful document is available to buy and download from the society and includes a sketch of the graveyard.
Following the publication of this web page we were delighted to be contacted by a lady who shared some lovely memories with us. She had a long association with the Chapel, her mother and grandmother had lived in nearby Picked Lane, and she had been baptised there at the age of 19 and got married at Nash Baptist Chapel in 1981. She also attended the Chapel as a Sunday School teacher and even spoke at services when no Minister was available.
We visited the Chapel in November 2023 and discovered many family graves. These included William and Ann Watkins, the parents of Rosa, our great-grandmother, as well as some of Rosa’s brothers and sisters – William, Eliza, Matilda, Selina, and Myra. Whilst in the area we also visited their former home, Pye Corner Farm, which is immediately opposite the Chapel.
If you have any stories or photographs of Nash Baptist Chapel in Pye Corner we would love to include them. Email: [email protected]
