Literally around the corner from St Mary’s in Lower Church Street, Chepstow, you’ll find another interesting place of worship; the Baptist Chapel.

Built in 1869 and decorated with similar sandstone to St Mary’s, the Baptist Chapel is built to a familiar design.

Without either the history or the presence of its close neighbour, Chepstow Baptist Chapel thrives within the community.

The Norman Priory of Chepstow was founded between 1067 and 1071 by William fitzOsbern (cousin to William the Conqueror), Earl of Hereford, and was built at the same time as the Norman Keep of Chepstow Castle.

Benedictine monks were brought from the monastery at Cormeilles in Normandy, now Chepstow’ twin town. After the suppression of the priory in 1536 the Church suffered much destruction but the grandeur of the early Norman great Church can still be seen today in the vast three storey original nave.

The early Church was built in local yellow Triassic sandstone and its crowning glory is the great west entrance doorway, built in five richly decorated arches with zig zag and lozenge patterns.

The rest of the Church is a strange mixture of later restoration attempts following the collapse of the central tower in 1701.

Click the images for larger views.

We tend to think about our distant relatives as being not particularly long-lived, but as with all things there are exceptions to every rule.

I can’t say with exact certainty what the average age was in the 1700s but I suspect 77 would have been considered pretty old. Jone’s husband Richard must have been pretty exceptional at 105 though!

This plaque is embedded in the wall of the Parish and Priory Church of St Mary in Chepstow. More about the church later.

England and Wales, has a long and varied history. The town was of major importance in Norman times; William the Conqueror’s cousin William FitzOsbern began fortifying Chepstow in 1067, just one year after the Norman invasion.

I want to begin in rather more modern times though with an image of Chepstow Drill Hall

The 4th Division of the Monmouthshire Regiment left for France and the second battle of Ypres from here in 1915; I wonder how many came back?

My last trip out with my camera took me to Chepstow; no specific reason, just to walk around some of the town and snap a few images...

So it won't take a genius to guess where the next bunch of images to appear on this blog came from will it?