St John’s Chapel, Lion Street, is easy to miss, tucked away on Lion Street below what is now Chapters restaurant. Yet this small chapel – dedicated to St John the Baptist – has a history going back to 1254, when it was founded as a Guild Chapel for the Tradesmen of Hay. It also served as chapel to the castle since the Parish Church had been left outside the town walls.
St John’s Chapel suffered the same fate as the monasteries during the Reformation and in 1547 was forfeited to the crown, subsequently passing to the powerful Vaughan family. By the 1680s, when the Duke of Beaufort passed through the town, the building was mentioned only as a school.
Illustration from the ‘Official Progress of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort Through Wales’, 1684.
The Chapel resurfaced as the town lock-up in the early 19th century and remained so until a new Police Station was built in 1875. It then served variously as a Fire Station, a butcher’s shop, a barber’s and a saddler’s and likely a few other things too.
In 1930 the site was bought by Mary Louisa Dawson of Hay Castle, the daughter of an Archdeacon, and presented to the Parish after major restoration. The present appearance is largely of that date. In a U-plan, there is a schoolroom to the right and the chapel to the left, with a pointed arch bellcote above. Inside, the Chapel has a reredos of Jacobean richly carved oak, an oak altar from Whitney, and a portrait sculpture (style of Donatello) signed B. Wilson, Florence 1898.
St John’s Chapel is the only member of the parish group that is not open daily. It can be seen during the weekly Mass, held at 10 am on Thursdays.