Calfaria is a Baptist chapel in the village of Penygroes in the community of

Llandybie Llandybie ( , " Saint Tybie's church") is a village and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, with the village being situated north of Ammanford. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, Llandybie village itself is home to a population of 3 ...

, near

Ammanford Ammanford ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population of 5,445, and the wider built up area had a population of 8,285. Ammanford is se ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

. Services at Calfaria were conducted in the Welsh language until recently but are now bilingual.

History

Calfaria was founded in 1896 by

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

who worshipped at other chapels in the vicinity and miners who had migrated to the areas to work at the Emlyn and Caerbryn collieries. They originally met in each other's homes and then in a small ramshackle building, later known as the (Old Band Shed). The small congregation grew rapidly, and a minister, the Rev Job Herbert, was installed two years before the chapel was built. Herbert remained minister for forty years. He was succeeded by Handel Turner (1942–46), E. Bryn Jones (1947–56), Elwyn Williams (1957–63), Wynn Vittle (1964–73) and Carl Williams (1975–82). The current minister (2020) is Aled Maskell.

References

Sources

* {{Coord, 51.6947, -3.8973, region:GB-WLS, format=dms, display=title Chapels in Carmarthenshire