How it all began...

More than one hundred and fifty years have passed since a few believers began to meet simply in the Lord’s name in a private house in Cardiff. God blessed that humble beginning, the fruits of which are to be seen today. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the population of Cardiff was 1,870, but because of the rapid growth of trade in the town, houses and people also increased rapidly, so that by 1881, the population had reached 82,761. In 1852, William Bennett and his wife came to reside in Cardiff from Glastonbury, Somerset, where he was born in 1815. William Bennett, who was a tailor by trade but later became a tax collector, married Catherine Taylor the daughter of a farmer in December 1844 at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Glastonbury. When they moved to Cardiff they had a deep desire to commence a meeting on New Testament lines, and a Mr. Bright who shared their desire, joined them.

In a book published in 1901 entitled "The History of Nonconformity" it is recorded that "a meeting of Christians commenced in 1852 in a house in Nelson Street [the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett] who call themselves brethren, or Christians who gather only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ". They wanted to be obedient to His commands, to devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer, as the first Christians did in New Testament times. (Acts 2:32)

This marked the commencement of the work at Adamsdown, which was the first assembly in South Wales, and possibly in the whole of Wales. Nelson Terrace was in the "Newtown" area of Cardiff, a suburb known locally as "Little Ireland". This district was highly populated by Irish families who were brought to Cardiff by the Marquess of Bute, as a work force was needed to build the new docks. The district was bounded on the north by Adam Street [along side the jail], and to the south by Tyndall Street, and these are the only two streets, which remain today, after the area was demolished in the 1960’s. The area had been divided into two by the "South Wales Railway" line, which was completed in 1850. As time went by, the meeting moved to other premises in Newtown, including: Victoria Street, an "upper room" in Ivor Street and by 1873 in Godfrey Street.