Bethania was a

Calvinistic Methodist Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...

chapel in

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...

Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff (Welsh: ''Taf'') and Ely valleys, plus a number of towns and vil ...

, Wales, which seated 550 people. Located near the centre of Aberdare, it had a somewhat concealed entrance and was approached up a long flight of steps. The chapel was designated a Grade II-

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on 1 October 1991. It closed in the early 1990s and has now been demolished.

History

The cause is said to have begun with the holding of a Sunday School at the Black Lion hotel, immediately in front of where the chapel was built. The first building, erected in 1853, was designed by Evan Griffiths of Aberdare and built by David Evans, on a field known as Cae Tirion which was part of the Ynyslwyd estate, at a cost of £500. The minister from 1870 until 1908 was

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, a native of

Trefin Trefin ( Welsh standardised:), formerly anglicised as Trevine, is a village in North Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales. The village lies within the parish and community of Llanrhian, which has a significant Welsh-speaking population. Etymology T ...

in Pembrokeshire. James became a member of the

Aberdare School Board The Aberdare School Board was formed in 1871 and consisted of thirteen members elected for a period of three years. It was abolished, along with other School Boards in 1902 and its responsibilities transferred to Glamorgan County Council. In the m ...

for several years. Bethania's membership declined rapidly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, although the opening of briefly revived the Sunday School, allowing the then minister to address the children in Welsh for the first time or many years. In 1965 a service was held at Bethania to mark the centenary of the Welsh colony in Patagonia.

References

Bibliography

* Chapels in Rhondda Cynon Taf Aberdare Grade II listed churches in Rhondda Cynon Taf Former churches in Wales {{Wales-struct-stub