These three rural chapels lie hidden and forgotten in the Welsh countryside in adjacent villages, just three miles apart from each other outside of Snowdonia national park. They will have each been built around the same era, but have aged each in their own unique way, much like the hundreds more scattered across rural Wales now left crumbling at the road side having not held a congregation for many decades, perhaps even the best part of a century. Despite being disused, they have become a permanent fixture of the surrounding landscape through generations, and still stand like so many across this country as a constant reminder of simpler times.
During the 18th century when this chapel was built, Wales was still an overwhelmingly rural country with a population of little more than 500,000. Before the industrial revolution the vast majority of people here lived and worked off the land in small, disconnected communities. Without the funds or the manpower that more populated areas received from their Christian parishes, they had to come together to build their own chapels in order to congregate together for worship.
At most this room would have accommodated 20 worshippers including a local priest and an organist. There was no electricity, heating or water supply much like the majority of buildings across the country at the time.
Possibly my favourite miniature organ from all of our rural adventures in recent years. I often wonder why they're left behind like this, but the truth is they wouldn't fit back through the chapel door. Perhaps originally assembled inside by someone with a skillset that now barely exists in this day and age.
Unlike the 'tin chapels' in one of my previous projects that started appearing around a century later, these were built by hand using mostly granite and slate that has always been in abundance across the country. For hundreds of years Wales has survived on the self-sufficient mentality of using the land to sustain its communities – even now, many towns are noticeably uniform in the way that almost all buildings appear to have been made of the same material. The churches and chapels were no exception, and these rural examples were the one place for far-apart families to come together from across the fields and valleys in the name of their faith.
Almost all of the bibles and writings found in these chapels are written in Welsh language. In fact when these were built in the early 1800's English was only just starting to make its way into the larger towns of the country, and had not yet reached these rural parts.
Some unknown person decided to place a lambs skull onto a bible on-top of the pulpit. Reasons unknown, but it fits the nickname of this chapel at least..
