Bethania, Dowlais was a Welsh

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, or Congregationalist, chapel in South Street,

Dowlais Dowlais () is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlai ...

, near

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

, South Wales. The cause was established in 1824 and the chapel rebuilt on several occasions in the nineteenth century. The present chapel dates from 1895 but was vastly enlarged and re-modelled in 1910. The building is Grade II listed. Bethania's origins were as an offshoot of the original Congregationalist chapel at Merthyr, Ynysgau. There was a Congrgationalist tradition at Dowlais before the growth of an industrial community there and the family of Gwernllwynisaf (one of the farms) were prominent in the cause at Ynysgau. One of the early leaders was Methusalem Jones (1769–1839), but following disagreements he withdrew and concentrated on leading the cause at Bethesda, which together with Ynysgau had been instrumental in establishing Bethania. A revival took place in South Wales in 1829. At the time, Bethania shared its minister with Zoar, Merthyr Tydfil. Samuel Evans, mister at Zoar since 1810, took care of Bethesda from 1828. Evans died in 1833, aged 56 John Hughes became the minister in 1833. Aged 33 at the time, he remained at Bethania for thirty years, the longest pastorate in the chapel's history. Hughes was a native of Capel Iwan in Carmarthenshire and had trained at the Neuaddlwyd Academy in

Cardiganshire Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

. A new chapel which could accommodate 1250 people was opened in 1838. By 1848 Bethania had a Sunday School attended by 600 adults and children. During Hughes's pastorate a new branch of Bethania was opened at Gwernllwyn, Dowlais. On 13 and 14 July 1868, John Evans, a student from Brecon College, was ordained minister at Bethania. Peter Price was ordained minister at Bethania in 1904 and proved to be an vocal critic of the 1904–05 Religious Revival. Price departed from Bethania in 1910 in acrimonious circumstances. The chapel closed in 1998 and the building is now used by an evangelical congregation.

References

{{coord, 51.7601, -3.3551, display=title Merthyr Tydfil Chapels in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Buildings and structures in Merthyr Tydfil Grade II listed churches in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough