Welsh Chapels

‘Nonconformist’ religious movements are those which do not belong to the Established Church. In Wales, these include the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Quakers and the Congregationalists. These became very popular in the 1800s when coal- and slate-mining were booming industries, but the work was hard and communities drew together.

The Welsh chapels, built of various sizes and styles for these movements, were places of sanctuary and social bonding; somewhere for people to come together at the end of the day to be entertained, educated, supported and even to make their mark in the promotion stakes; somewhere to be seen as being a good citizen. Everyone enjoyed ‘going to Chapel’.

However, as fast as new Chapels were being built 150 years ago, today they are disappearing at the same rate, as other social outlets have taken their place.

(Image: Dylan Moore at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)