Independent Chapel, Newport

Newport Independent worship is understood to have begun in the late 17th century, with a congregation meeting in barns until a more permanent building was erected in 1710. The present building was built in 1825 to replace the earlier building. Original fittings include “pulpit with bowed front supported by two columns, and gallery around three sides with contemporary pews”.

In the days of stage coaches, Newport was a busy place, as it was the “half-way house” between Gloucester and Bristol. It had several inns, and in the early 20th century it also had an Anglican church, dedicated to St Maurice, which was adjacent to the Horse Shoe Inn. Both shown on Old Maps of (for instance) OS 1923-4 1,10:560.

In 2002, however the chapel was the only surviving place of worship left in the village,^[1] and by 2006, when it was finally closed, it had become very dilapidated. In early February 2011, however, there are plans to turn it into a residential dwelling.

In my other source for this account, Non-Conformist Chapels and Meeting Houses, Gloucestershire (1986), it is listed under the heading of Alkington.

(Information provided by Rosemary Lockie)

References
[1] There was an account of what may have been one of the last services to be held in the Chapel, in 2002, on the website The Mystery Worshipper, which now appears to survive only by courtesy of the “Wayback Machine”, where there are several years' versions of Newport Independent Chapel, Newport, Gloucestershire. The first archived version was 15 Jun 2002, but the account was updated in September 2006, when the Chapel finally closed.