A better chapel

 (Disclaimer: Joking aside, I fully understand the risks/dangers involved in these adventures and do so in the full knowledge of what could happen. I don't encourage or condone and I accept no responsibility for anyone else following in my footsteps. Under UK law, trespass without force is a civil offence. I never break into a place, I never photograph a place that is currently occupied, I never take any items and I never cause any damage, as such no criminal offences have been committed in the making of this blog. I will not disclose location.  I leave the building as I find it and only enter to take photographs for my own pleasure and to document the building. 

 

One night, lost somewhere in the rural depths of Wales, surrounded by mountains and miles from the nearest human, I came across this incredibly awesome derelict chapel. Because it is so remote, its decay is entirely natural, without a hint of vandalism, save perhaps for the non-existent window through which I made my graceful entrance.

 

The chapel was seemingly unloved, but nevertheless, it's perhaps the most well-preserved derelict chapel I've ever come across. Unlike the last chapel, it's not difficult to imagine this place full of people. It's mot exactly ruinous, just run down. It may even be possible to save it.

I'm well aware that in the dead of night, my torch would light this chapel up, making my trespass about as subtle as the holocaust, but there was nobody around for miles.

Quite in contrast to the peaceful vibe over the valley, this was once considered one of the most lawless parts of Wales. There was a pretty infamous gang that used to roam this area, known as The Red Bandits, because they were all ginger.

I know right, Gingers bullying people? We must be in Opposite World.

The Red Bandits were notorious for stealing cattle, committing arson and murder, but they bit off more than they could chew in 1555 when they ambushed and murdered a sheriff, prompting a massive clampdown on crime. Many of the Weaseleys were subsequently round up and hung. One account said that one was only a small boy. The daughter of the baron overseeing the execution allegedly begged her father to spare the child, but he was having none of it. She was later described as a spinster and only escaped the gallows herself in 1558 because she was pregnant. 

They were pretty brutal times.

 

But with the bandits gone, the valley became a peaceful land of mining and farming, and consequentially, chapels were built to accommodate the smaller communities.

In the days before transportation was as accessible as it is today, people used to walk for miles from their tiny rural hamlets to attend church. This chapel was constructed in 1836, for the peoples convenience, knocking about three miles off their walk to the next-nearest chapel. It cost about £27 to build, which is just over £3000 by todays standards. It was rebuilt in 1876, and then a year later a second chapel was built only a short walk up the road, which was apparently used mostly for Sunday School.

It's said that the two chapels had two completely different denominations, which is like a sub-genre of Christianity, like Catholic or the Methodist, and whatnot. They follow the same God, and the same bible, but somehow have different rules. It makes no sense to me, I gotta be honest. I guess some religious groups are like "God loves us, but the bible shouldn't be taken literally because it is essentially a rule book written by men two thousand years ago," and others are a little bit weird stricter.

 

But the community spirit was strong here, and despite being two different denominations so close to each other, they got along and organised events together.

 

There's a bible and a hymn book still on the altar. They're both in Welsh, and the bible looks positively ancient.

 

Lifting the blanket on the altar revealed that it was actually a cupboard, and was packed full of similarly ancient-looking books and documents.

 

 

It looks like it would all fall apart in my hands, so I didn't rummage too much.

 

 

The Welsh title of the red book is pretty easy to translate even if you don't know any Welsh. It says "Stories of the Old Testament."

In my opinion, that's the best one. That's when God was all like "Do what I say or I'll castrate you with a cheese grater in front of your kids and then Satan and I will spitroast your Nan."

In the New Testament the most badass thing Jesus did was kill a tree.

 

In regards to events that were held here, I only know of one for sure, and that was in 1880. It was a big festival that took place in the chapel and surrounding area. There was food, music, and a pretty pleasant vibe. I doubt it was the only event to take place here, but it sure is strange to think that this place was once a hive of activity.

 

But obviously, with the changing times, chapels like this did become a bit redundant. In the 20th Century transport became much more accessible, and these rural communities were suddenly connected to a wider world. This chapel lasted longer than you might expect though. While the sunday school down the road was converted into a barn in 1998, this chapel clung to life, finally closing its doors for good in 2010.

The ceiling is looking pretty weak. Once that comes down, the chapel will be exposed to the elements and be pretty much fucked.

There's a childrens picture bible here, in Welsh, obviously. And I actually had an English copy of this when I was a small child, what with my father being religious. It's basically a simplified bible, but by simplified I mean it chopped out all the dull bits of the bible, basically making it just a storybook. In fact the font size and the paragraphs were actually the size and sophistication you'd get in an adult book. I think it may actually be superior to the actual bible, because it reads like a regular storybook and not like a beefy book of boring rules. The artwork is quite pretty too.

It's weird that all these books were just left behind. With the window removed, they've been exposed to the elements somewhat, so they've decayed a lot faster than they would normally.

Now this is interesting. Underneath the carpet that ran along the centre of the chapel is a completely different floor design. At some point they decided to cover this up with the existing carpet.

 

Over in one corner was a box of childrens activities, including what appears to be bible top trumps.

Check it out! It's a Kwik-Save bag! This supermarket closed down in 2007. My father was banned from one when I was a child, because he used to give us snacks prior to paying for them. He'd scan the wrappers later so it wasn't technically stealing, and my siblings and I would be too busy scoffing to be a distraction during the house food shop. Unfortunately for him, Kwik Save didn't see it that way.

But the real gem of this chapel was this Parisian organ. It no longer works, but it seems a shame that it's going to waste here. Maybe it can be fixed up.

This booklet appears to be a sunday school one. Perhaps when the one up the road was converted into a barn, they used this chapel instead. It just seems weird how much stuff here is for children when the Sunday School was allegedly the one that got turned into a barn. Perhaps my sources got the two buildings confused.

On the wall behind the organ is something quite awesome. It's a picture board from 1916 that shows all of the church elders.

This is pretty amazing. Even behind the frame, the paper is decaying, but it's incredible that this is over a century old, and shows people who are long dead, but were once important figures in their community.

There are a few points of interest, such as this mention of "Dinbych," which is the Welsh name for Denbigh. It is interesting to see it under its Welsh name when the English one is so widely used. Likewise, Liverpool is referred to as Lerpwl.

There are some obvious family connections here too. This guy, Gwilym Rees, has a resemblance to T Rees, of Bangor, and the same surname.

It would not surprise me if those two were siblings, or even father and son.

It's sad that this historic document is rotting away, but the frame seems to be the home of insects, woodlice and spiders, so I guess it is serving some purpose.

That's all I got. My next blog will be a fantastic derelict mansion, and then I'm blogging about a very sexy abandoned theatre. In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram, reddit, Vero, Twitter, and unfortunately Facebook. If you do follow me on Facebook then by all means, like a post just to give it a bit of an edge on that algorithmic hellscape. I don't know why Zuckerberg thinks it's a good idea to not actually show people to those that choose to follow them, but it's probably because they have nipples. Zuckerberg hates nipples.

Anyway, thanks for reading!