The Welsh Chapel
The Nonconformist Welsh chapel is one of the most distinctive building types in Wales, both in its variety of styles, and in its contribution to townscapes and landscapes. In both industrial and rural areas, Nonconformist chapels were centres of the social and cultural, as well as the religious, life of communities and played a vital role in the survival of the Welsh language into the twentieth century at a time when the official language of education and many workplaces was English. Regrettably, many chapels have closed and, due to dwindling congregations, the chapel is today the building type most at risk of closure in Wales.
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), in conjunction with Capel: The Welsh Chapels Society has been at the forefront in recognising the cultural and social importance of these buildings in the heritage of Wales. The RCAHMW has been carrying out a systematic programme of collecting and analysing information regarding these buildings. Key chapels across Wales have been surveyed, providing invaluable records of chapels at risk or exemplars of their type. In collecting data through field study, map and documentary searches, and the integration of existing surveys and databases, the RCAHMW now holds a database of some 6,469 chapels that have been built in Wales. This database holds information relating to the different architectural elements, key dates, associated architects and builders where known, language, cost and value, seating capacity and related structures such as vestries, chapel houses and Sunday schools. This database is available on the website of Addoldai Cymru : the Welsh Religious Buildings Trust at welshchapels.wales/map
The database is supplemented by an ever-increasing archive of photographs. Digital images are available on the RCAHMW’s on-line database, www.coflein.gov.uk
Notable and Significant Welsh Chapel
The Welsh Government, under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, is required by law to compile lists of buildings of special architectural or historic interest. Out of the 6,469 chapels in Wales recorded on the RCAHMW database, 892 i.e. 14% are included in this statutory list. This equates to approximately 2.9% of Wales’s total number of listed buildings. They vary greatly in type and age from simple country chapels to elaborate architectural examples in urban areas. Listed chapels are split into three categories according to their relative importance:
Grade I are “Buildings of exceptional interest”. There are only 5 listed Nonconformist chapels at this grade in Wales.
Grade II* are “Buildings of more than special interest”. There are 74 listed Nonconformist chapels at this grade in Wales.
Grade II are “Buildings of special interest”. There are 813 listed Nonconformist chapels at this grade in Wales. (* SF increased the total from 867 to 892. I assume the additions are all grade II?)
Significant Chapels and Addoldai Cymru
Addoldai Cymru : the Welsh Religious Buildings Trust aims to conserve examples of redundant Nonconformist chapels and other non-Church in Wales places of worship which are of exceptional architectural and/or historic interest. We are an organisation that acts as a mechanism of ‘last resort’ with the long-term aim of ensuring that some of our most important buildings are saved for the future. To date the Trust has acquired and taken into care ten chapels from a variety of denominations located across Wales with acquisitions currently in process for at least two more buildings.
To target its activities more effectively, and to aid with acquisition decisions, the Trust has carefully identified those Nonconformist buildings in Wales which it considers are the most significant and which may be considered for acquisition should they become redundant. The five criteria that determine UNESCO’s World Heritage status for individual heritage sites have been utilised.
The Trust’s Significant Chapels list considers those buildings that have been listed but also considers non-listed buildings, for example where the building reflects a representational value of a particular denomination or building type. Buildings whose future have been secured through other means, for example by another trust, or which have been listed despite being adapted or altered for other uses, are discounted.
National Eisteddfod Llŷn and Eifionydd 2023
This year the National Eisteddfod comes to north Wales, and Addoldai Cymru is delighted that one of the Trust’s very own, Dr Tanya Jenkins, will be presenting a lecture at the National Eisteddfod, Pabell y Cymdeithasau One, ‘Addoldai mwyaf nodedig Cymru?’ (translation:. Wales’ most notable places of worship?)
This lecture, in Welsh, will not only consider this from the perspective of those buildings, specifically Nonconformist chapels, that have been judged to have special architectural or historic value, i.e. those notable and significant chapels validated through the listing process, and through the work of Addoldai Cymru as detailed above. It aims also to discuss those buildings that are important from a more personal and local viewpoint.
As an aide memoire, and a ‘bit of fun’ the Trust has launched an online poll, a way of engaging with the public to ask the very simple question ‘Which is your Favourite Chapel?’. This may well be easier to ask than to answer! It is very early days but the responses to date show what a subjective matter this is.
Which is your Favourite chapel?
This is an online poll that asks the participant to rank the ten chapels in the care of Addoldai Cymru in line with their preferences.
We have also randomly chosen ten important chapels from across Wales (a difficult task in its own right) and again we ask that they are ranked in line with their preferences.
Finally, there is the opportunity to let us know what their favourite chapel is, if not noted within the previous questions, and why they feel that this is important. The poll can be found on our website or please scan the QR code!
Featured image: Peniel, Tremadog
