Bethany Chapel, Ammanford
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Bethany is a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in
Ammanford Ammanford ( cy, Rhydaman) is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, with a population of 5,411 at the 2011 census. It is a former coal mining town. The built-up area had a population of 7,945 with the wider urban area even bigger. Acco ...
,
Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...
, Wales. Services are conducted in the
Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...
. The chapel was founded around 1880 and was originally a branch of the older Methodist cause across the river in Betws. A committee was formed and land acquired in Wind Street from Lord Dynevor. The new chapel was built at a cost of £900 and the first service was held in 1881 Membership increased with the development of the town, with a particularly flourishing period during the ministry of W. Nantlais Williams, a noted poet and hymn writer, who was their minister from 1900 to 1944. Following the religious revival of 1904–1904, Nantlais gave up all involvement with competitive
eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...
au to concentrate on pastoral work. By the 1920s the chapel was considered too small, and a decision to rebuild was taken in 1927. Bethany was re-opened in 1929 with seating capacity at 800, with room for another 300 in the adjoining vestry. The work was completed by William Evans, a local contractor and member of the Ammanford Urban District Council.


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* {{Coord, 51.7910, -3.9907, region:GB-WLS, format=dms, display=title Chapels in Carmarthenshire