Bethany(1868)

English Baptist, Abertonllwyd Street, Treherbert

Built: 1873 , Extended or Rebuilt: 1910 [Sittings: 1000]

It is no small coincidence that a photograph of this chapel appears on the Home Page of this website. It is the one most associated with my family. My great-grandfather is named as a deacon in the earliest surviving chapel book. And the family home in Abertonllwyd Street as used as a Meeting House during chapel renovations.

  Image © Copyright Glamorgan Archives - Reference: MGCS/CS/54.002

The cause was founded by Henry Rosser a self-taught minister who previously held pastorates both in Breconshire and Monmouthshire. When he finally settled in Treherbert it was natural thst he worshipped at Libanus. He appreciated the need of an English-speaking cause and Libanus allowed his flock to use their vestry for services whilst they could organise and build their own place of worship.
    A spacious school-room was built almost directly opposite the chapel in 1905 with a concert-hall on the upper floor. This was demolished in 1985 to be replaced by flats operated by the Baptist Housing Association.
    The chapel itself was extended in 1910 with the removal of the rear-standing vestry which you can just make out in the older photograph
    It was in 2009 that I was to learn that the chapel had been forced to close due to dry-rot throughout the building. The prospect of its demolition was the principal factor in the creation of this website to preserve its memory and those with similar fate.
    Beyond the chapel's closure, the church continued to meet at a local Gospel Hall and thereafter the surviving members joined wih Carmel.
    But Bethany was not to suffer the fate of demolition. It was acquired by a developer. The interior most wonderfully restored and converted. I understand by contact that it is now an Air BnB and photographs show it of most elegant design. Since the exterior has not changed in any way it is a most fitting tribute to an era that so many have no knowledge of.

Document Sources:-
MGCS 54/002
Bethany English Baptist Church 1868-1914 - Jeffrey Rhidan Roberts 1989.