Bethel(1855)Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, William Street, YstradBuilt: 1858 , Extended or Rebuilt: 1870, 1893 [Sittings: 600]
 Bethel can easily claim to be the first Calvinistic Methodist cause of the upper Rhonnda and, perhaps, it is no accident that it developed in glose proximity to Nebo. Yet reading the history as prepared in the MGCS the writer has somewhat confused me.  Image by permission of Rhondda Cynon Taf Libraries - Reference: 3551
This history was written some years after the church closed but appears nominally based on the centenary publication of 1955-56. But this 'old-un' is confused since it mentions that initially there was a mixed congregation of Methodists and Independents in a wooden building in "Gelli" and "Gelli" is quoted elsewhere. Yet I can find no specific reference to this in the book with all illustration maps showing Heol Fach i.e. Ystrad. The article then describes how the Independents acquired their own building and a little later the Methodists were able to have a more substantial one from two converted houses.
It ought to be mentioned here that Methodist congregations, unlike their Independent or Baptist brothers, can not simply build a chapel on their own initiative and be formally recognised. Permision has to be obtained from the Monthly Meeting (and hereby lays some of the issues when one reads the history of Hermon, Tonypandy) and it was the celebrated Rev. William Evans of Tonyrefail who represented the Monthly Meeting to find a suitable home for this cause.
Controversy arose in the 1860's with the formation of Jerusalem, Ton-Pentre inasmuch that they wished to take precedence over this earlier cause and treat Bethel as a 'branch' even though it was a church in its own right. Bethel held firm in its independence although the minister of Jerusalem, William Jones, and oversight of Bethel for some years.
Bethel closed its doors in 1972 and the building would subsequently be occupied by Ystrad Boys Club.
Document Sources:-
MGCS 54/98.
Hanes yr Achose 1855/56-1955/56.
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