Bethania Chapel, Aberdare
Bethania, Aberdare was a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales that seated 550 people.[1] Located near the centre of Aberdare it had a somewhat concealed entrance and is approached up a long flight of steps.
Bethania received a Grade 2 Listing on 1 October 1991.[2]
The chapel closed in the early 1990s and was a ruin when pictured in 2014 (see image). The building has now been demolished.
Early History
The cause is said to have begun with the holding of a Sunday School at the Black Lion hotel, immediately in front of where the chapel was built. The first building, erected in 1853, was designed by Evan Griffiths of Aberdare and built by David Evans, on a field known as Cae Tirion which was part of the Ynyslwyd estate, at a cost of £500.[3]
The minister from 1870 until 1908 was William James , a native of Tre-fin in Pembrokeshire. James became a member of the Aberdare School Board for several years.[4]
Bethania's membership declined rapidly after the Second World War although the opening of Ysgol Gymraeg Aberdar briefly revived the Sunday School, allowing the then minister to address the children in Welsh for the first time or many years. In 1965 a service was held at Bethania to mark the centenary of the Welsh colony in Patagonia.
The chapel closed in the 1980s.
References
- ^ Jones, Anthony (1996). Welsh Chapels. National Museum Wales. pp. 79–80. ISBN 9780750911627.
- ^ "Bethania Chapel, Aberdare". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- ^ Jones. Chapels of the Cynon Valley. pp. 94–5.
- ^ "Y Parch William James, Bethania". Tarian y Gweithiwr. 30 July 1908. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
Bibliography
- Jones, Alan Vernon (2004). Chapels of the Cynon Valley. Cynon Valley Historical Society. ISBN 0953107612.
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