Welsh Journals

Fig. 7: Robert Thomas's Memorial tablet in Hanover Chapel In 1868 also the schoolroom was built and paid for by Anne Morgan of Lower House. Her mother and possibly her aunt Margaret and Sarah Morgan according to a plaque still on the wall of the chapel, invested £ 200 of which the interest is for the Use and Support of the Pro: Dissenting Minister of Hanover Chapel for Ever'. In 1890 the interior was renovated and this cost £ 300 and at the reopening services in 1893 sermons were delivered in Welsh and English. During Mr Davies's ministry, in March 1889, a schoolroom was opened at Twynglas at a cost of £ 70. In 1884 following Robert Thomas's retirement, David Davies began a ministry that continued until 1918. Dr Glyndwr Harris says of this period that 'the first world war took its toll of young men and thirty six names are recorded on the war memorial (in the chapel) and nine who made the supreme sacrifice'. This is a staggering figure when we consider that it involved one small congregation in a small village. Dr Harris proceeds to state, that the years between the two world wars saw many changes in village life: rural depopulation and changing social and religious attitudes made them notoriously difficult for branches of the Christian Church. Hanover continued to be served by a succession of worthy ministers John Charles (1918-1926), Lewis H. Davies (1927-1933) and David Lewis (1935-1942). The Second World War saw a further erosion of regular church going, and Hanover, like many other village churches, felt the force of a mounting wave of secularism that swept across the country. William Manuel Davies ministered from 1942-1944 and he was succeeded by Thomas Price Haines who served from 1949-1952 and J. Langley Stevenson from 1957-1961. By 1957 the members had become fewer and fewer so that the church was not able to support a minister on its own. Hanover therefore united with Twyn Congregational Church, Usk, to form a joint pastorate