A Baptismal pool used for hundreds of full-immersion ceremonies is being given nearly £40,000 by the Welsh Assembly Government towards repairs.

The outdoor pool, which is associated with the 300-year-old Blaunwaun Chapel at St Dogmaels, will share in grants of almost £1.5 million being given to Wales’s most important historic buildings for essential restoration work.

Members of the chapel say the pool is unique and they hope it will become part of the St Dogmaels history trail.

Chapel treasurer Elfed John said: "There is a great deal of work to do there and this is a substantial sum. The place is quite unique. It was built in terraces and hundreds of people have been baptised there. There are steps down and you walk through and out the other side. It was always a great occasion."

A member who was baptised there when she was 14, Mair Garnon James, who is now 80, told the Tivy-Side: "We do not hold many baptisms there now but many people and visitors would like to see this place, it is a real attraction in itself. This money is very good news."

She added that the pool, which is in Cwm Degwel and has a stream running through it, is some distance from the chapel itself. It was last used about two years ago.

"The Baptist movement was once very strong in North Pembrokeshire and at one time there were about 620 members at Blaenwaun. There would have been maybe 20 baptisms a year in the late 19th century. Membership now is about 75 and we still have the Baptisms occasionally."

Making the grant announcement Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones said the pool at Blaenwaun is "highly unusual" in that it is built on an ambitious scale and is also located some distance from its parent chapel.

He added: "It is a remarkable testimony to the strength of the Baptist tradition in this area."