Capel Rhondda, Pontypridd
Capel Rhondda, Hopkinstown
Capel Rhondda on Hopkinstown Road, Pontypridd, is a Grade II classical Baptist chapel of 1885, the place where John Hughes’s hymn tune Cwm Rhondda was first sung.
- Location
- Pontypridd, Glamorgan
- Country
- Wales
- County
- Glamorgan
- City / town
- Pontypridd
- Address
- Near 2 Hopkinstown Rd, Hopkinstown, Pontypridd, Glamorgan, CF37 2PR
- Postcode
- CF37 2PR
- Built
- 1885 (replaced 1852 chapel); Sunday school 1905
- Denomination
- Baptist Church
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Classical
- Materials
- Snecked rock-faced stone with freestone dressings; slate roof
- Grid reference
- ST 059 907
- Opening hours
- Sorry, there are no regular opening times for this church.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas
Overview
Cadw records that the first Rhondda Baptist Chapel of 1852 was replaced by the present building in 1885; the adjoining Sunday school was added in 1905. The chapel is of snecked rock-faced stone with lighter freestone dressings and a slate roof, a symmetrical three-bay front with a pediment, round-headed windows and set-back stair turrets. The interior has a three-sided raked gallery on fluted cast-iron columns, a boarded panel ceiling with a central rose, and a Blackett & Howden organ. Cadw listed the chapel, including the Sunday school, at Grade II on 26 February 2001 (record 24875) for architectural interest as a late nineteenth-century chapel retaining its original character.
John Hughes (1873–1932) of Llantwit Fardre composed Cwm Rhondda for an anniversary service here in 1907. The chapel closed in December 2024. In 2026 the community company Capel Rhondda Cyf bought the building after a fundraising campaign, with a Welsh Government Perthyn grant toward surveys and repair.