SIDE by side in Welsh Street, there were two very different chapels.

On the right in this photo was the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary’s. Built in 1827 in the Gothic style, it could seat 200.

Next door was the Beulah Congregational Chapel, built in 1834 by a group which had broken away from the strict Baptist church in Chepstow ten years earlier.

Having stood together for nearly 150 years, both places of worship were demolished in 1972 when a through-road to the car park was made. The photograph was taken not long before demolition.

MORE NOSTALGIA:

A new Roman Catholic Church was built in Bulwark. A few tombstones from the Congregational Church’s burial ground can still be seen near the Portwall at the entrance to the car park.

Text by the curator of Monmouthshire Museums. Photograph from the collections of Chepstow Museum ©Monmouthshire Museums