Bethania, Aberdare
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Bethania was a
Calvinistic Methodist The Presbyterian Church of Wales (), also known as the Calvinistic Methodist Church (), is a denomination of Protestant Christianity based in Wales. The Calvinistic Methodist movement has its origins in the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival ...
chapel in
Aberdare Aberdare ( ; ) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and River Cynon, Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tydf ...
,
Rhondda Cynon Taf Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff () and Ely valleys, ...
, 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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
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 and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th c ...
, a native of
Trefin Trefin (Welsh Language Commissioner, Welsh standardised:), formerly anglicised as Trevine, is a village in North Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales. The village lies within the parish and Community (Wales), community of Llanrhian, which has a signi ...
in Pembrokeshire. James became a member of the Aberdare School Board for several years. Bethania's membership declined rapidly after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, 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-church-stub