Although they are much less comprehensive than the records of the Anglican Church in Wales, the Nonconformist records should not be forgotten.

Many registers of dissenting congregations were deposited in London with the Registrar-General after the Civil Registration Act of 1836 and are now at The National Archives. For details of these registers see General Register Office List of Non Parochial Registers (List & Index Society, vol 42 (1969)).

Microfilm copies of these registers from Wales are available at the Library.

Some pre-1837 registers were copied locally before being surrendered to the Registrar-General, and others never found their way to London at all. A few of those early registers and copies, as well as some later registers, are now deposited at the Library.

Details of where the registers have been deposited, and of the periods covered by them, are given in Dafydd Ifans, Cofrestri Anghydffurfiol Cymru/Nonconformist Registers of Wales (Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales and Welsh County Archivists' Group, 1994).

Search also the Capeli - Chapels database in the South Reading Room.

Other Nonconformist records such as lists of members and contribution books of particular chapels are also of genealogical value. Annual reports, usually including lists of members and their contributions, have been printed by many chapels since about 1880.

Denominational periodicals often contain a section for births, marriages, and deaths. Although primarily of value for particulars of members of the denomination in question, notes on members of other denominations may often appear in the following publications: ‘Yr Eurgrawn Wesleyaidd’ (1809, Wesleyan Methodist); ‘Seren Gomer’ (1818, Baptist); ‘Y Drysorfa’ (1831, Calvinistic Methodist); ‘Yr Haul’ (1835, Anglican Church in Wales); ‘Y Diwygiwr’ (1835, Congregational); ‘Yr Ymofynydd’ (1847, Unitarian). For more information visit the 19th century periodicals pages.

To see the non parochial registers on microfilm, you should go to the South Reading Room.

To see Nonconformist archives, you should go to the South Reading Room.

To see printed annual reports and denominational periodicals, you should go to the North Reading Room.