Yr Hen Gapel, Llwynrhydowen
Yr Hen Gapel, Llwynrhydowen
Yr Hen Gapel (the Old Chapel) at Rhydowen, Ceredigion, is a Grade II* Unitarian chapel facing the crossroads, now in the care of Addoldai Cymru, the Welsh Religious Buildings Trust. Unitarianism in Wales is closely associated with this congregation.
- Location
- Llwynrhydowen, Ceredigion
- Country
- Wales
- County
- Ceredigion
- City / town
- Llwynrhydowen
- Address
- Llwynrhydowen, Ceredigion, SA44 4QB
- Postcode
- SA44 4QB
- Built
- Founded 1726; present chapel dated 1834 (third on the site)
- Denomination
- Unitarian Church
- Parish
- Llwynrhydowen (Addoldai Cymru)
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Late Georgian Unitarian chapel (long-wall entry)
- Materials
- Rubble stone with paler ashlar dressings and quoins; half-hipped slate roof
- Opening hours
- Sorry, there are no regular opening times for this church.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Cadw records a cause founded in 1726. Coflein traces the first chapel of 1733, an extension of 1745, a rebuild of 1791, and the present third chapel of 1834 on the same site, renewed in 1862. The building is a long-wall-entry chapel of coursed rubble with paler ashlar dressings, a half-hipped slate roof and a scalloped timber eaves cornice. The tall front has arched openings with cut-stone voussoirs and keystones: two long central sash windows and two shorter outer windows over three-panel doors with intersecting-tracery fanlights. An oval slate plaque reads “Llwynrhydowen 1834”.
Under the Revd William Thomas (Gwilym Marles) the chapel was the focus of the struggle over evictions of Liberal-voting tenants on the Alltyrodyn estate after 1868. In 1876 minister and congregation were themselves evicted (the Troed Allan); a crowd of some three thousand heard Marles preach from the burial-ground steps. A new chapel opened in 1878–79; after the landlord’s death the old building was returned and later used as a Sunday school. Cadw lists it II* for its importance in Unitarian history and as an unrestored chapel of late Georgian character.