The Parishes, Churches and Chapels in 1904

The parish to which these Registers belong consisted of the mother parish of Glasbury, in the County of Radnor, and the hamlets of Tregoyd, Velindre and Pipton, in the County of Brecon ; the whole forming the township of Glasbury. To the above must be added the parish of Aberllynfi, in Breconshire. This was always a separate ecclesiastical, as it is still a separate civil parish. The church and graveyard were near Great House Farm in a field, No. 35 Ordnance Map, and the site of the church is now walled round. The font and altar monogram I H S were removed to Glasbury Church about 1886. The living (a Rectory) was in the gift of the family of Williams, Baronets of Gwernyfed, several of whom are buried in the Church. It was probably a donative living, and the patron ceasing to appoint about 1660, and the Church to be repaired, the inhabitants became, for all ecclesiastical purposes, parishioners of Glasbury.

The old Parish Church of Glasbury stood on the Stonces, No. 799 Ordnance Map, between the Rivers Wye and Llynfi, and close to the junction of those rivers. Some mounds still mark the site. By degrees the Wye washed away the churchyard exposing the graves, endangered the Church, and eventually separated it from the Vicarage, which still stands at the south-west end of Glasybout Common.
In 1660, the Vicar, Alexander Griffiths, a man of notable energy, who had been ejected under the Commonwealth and reinstated at the Restoration, began to move in the matter, and in 1662 a new Church was begun to be built on the present site, and which site was given by Sir Henry Williams of Gwernyfed. A full account of the interesting ceremony of dedication is given in Archceologia Canibrensis, October, 1870.

This Church was dedicated to St. Peter, 29th June, 1665, but was pulled down 1837-38, and the present Church built on its site at a cost of about £3,000. Mr. Vulliamy was the architect. Nothing belonging to the old church appears in it except a few monuments and the altar rails, which may date back to the Church on the Stonces.
There were Chapels of Ease at Velindre and Pipton. The former probably stood close to the Village Green at the junction of the roads leading from Hay and Glasbury to Velindre respectively. The field there, No. 262 on Ordnance Map, is still called the Chapel Field. The latter stood on the left bank of Llynfi immediately below Pipton Bridge, No. 225 on Ordnance Map, where the foundations can still be traced. Tradition says that the porch of Velindre Chapel now stands as the entrance to Gwernyfed Old Hall.

The ancient parish of Glasbury has been altered as follows :

An Order in Council 28th December, 1882, created the Ecclesiastical Parish of All Saints', Glasbury, Radnorshire, consisting of all that part of the parish that lay in Radnorshire, i.e. on left bank of River Wye, and a Church was built for this new parish and a Vicarage House for the old parish in Breconshire. A further Order in Council, 23rd August, 1883, approved a scheme for apportioning the tithes between the two parishes.

With regard to the Civil Parish :

An Order of the Local Government Board, 19th Dec, 1883, amalgamated the hamlet of Glasbury, Breconshire, (which was that part of the ancient township of Glasbury, which was left in Breconshire, when the County Boundary was altered to the River Wye in 1844), with the hamlets of Tregoyd and Velindre, making them the parish of Tregoyd and Velindre. (v111)

Pipton, though still called a hamlet, has long been a separate Civil Parish. Therefore, for Civil purposes, the parish of Glasbury, Breconshire, has ceased to exist, and the Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Peter's, Glasbury, Breconshire, now consists of the Civil parishes of Tregoyd and Velindre, Pipton, and Aberllynfi.

The following are the Nonconformist Chapels in the parish :
Breconshire.

Baptist Chapel with graveyard at Penyrheol. The Cause here was founded in 1780, when meetings were held at the Island Farm. The present chapel was erected soon after 1780, and is endowed with the Island Farm and other funds.

The Baptist Chapel by Glasbury Bridge was erected in 1866 at a cost of about ;^900, and on a site given by Mr. Piercy, of London.

The Welsh Presbyterian (Calvinistic Methodist) Chapel at Velindre was erected in 1862 on a site given by Colonel Thomas Wood of Gwernyfed.

Radnorshire.

Maesyronen Congregational Chapel erected 1696. Trust Deed dated 17 14, endowed with Blainey Farm, 38 acres. Burial Ground attached.

Congregational Chapel on Glasbury Green erected 1866.

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Cwmbach erected 1818 on site given by Mr. R. Hargest, of Skynlas. Burial Ground provided 1836.

Source : The Registers of Glasbury 1660 - 1836 by Thomas Wood, published in 1904