Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Llanelli

Last updated

Calfaria Baptist Chapel
Calvaria Baptist Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 4080083.jpg
Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Llanelli
LocationBigyn Road, Llanelli
CountryWales, United Kingdom
Denomination Baptist
History
Founded1887–88
Architecture
Heritage designation Grade II
Designated3 December 1992
Architectural type Chapel
Style Romanesque Revival

Calfaria was one of the many Baptist chapels in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales.

Contents

Established in 1881, the original chapel was a modest red-brick building which cost £500 and was opened in January 1882. [1] Within seven years a new chapel was built, designed by George Morgan of Carmarthen. [1] It flourished for over a century before closing in the early twenty-first century. The building is now derelict.

Early history

The interior of the chapel Calfaria chapel.jpg
The interior of the chapel

Founded in 1881, the first minister was James Griffiths, who moved to Calfaria, Aberdare in 1890.

Calfaria was much affected by the 1904-05 Religious Revival, during which a large number of prayer meetings were held. However, a prominent member was so overcome by the emotional impact of the Revival that he was removed to Carmarthen Asylum. [2]

Related Research Articles

Carmarthen County town of Carmarthenshire, Wales

Carmarthen is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. 8 miles (13 km) north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, down from 15,854 in 2001, but gauged at 16,285 in 2019. It has a claim to be the oldest town in Wales – Old Carmarthen and New Carmarthen became one borough in 1546. It was the most populous borough in Wales in the 16th–18th centuries, described by William Camden as "chief citie of the country". Growth stagnated by the mid-19th century as new settlements developed in the South Wales Coalfield.

Cilymaenllwyd is a community on the extreme northwest of Carmarthenshire in Wales. The community population at the 2011 census was 742. It lies about 25 miles (40 km) west of Carmarthen, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Fishguard and 19 miles (31 km) northwest of Haverfordwest. The A478 road runs through the community.

Cynwyl Elfed

Cynwyl Elfed is a village and community in the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales. The community includes the villages of Cynwyl Elfed, Blaenycoed and Cwmduad. It is situated about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Carmarthen and had a population of 953 in 2001, increasing to 1,044 at the 2011 Census.

Pen-y-groes, Carmarthenshire

Pen-y-groes is a village in Carmarthenshire, South Wales which developed as a settlement as a result of the anthracite coal trade. The main colliery was the Emlyn colliery, which opened in 1893 and closed in 1939.

Calfaria Chapel, Aberdare Former chapel in Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales

Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Aberdare, was one of the largest baptist churches in the South Wales Valleys and the oldest in the Aberdare valley. The chapel had an ornate interior, including a boarded ceiling with a deeply undercut rose, while the balcony balustrading had a cast iron front with an intricate foliage design. These features were common in the Welsh chapels of the late nineteenth century. The organ was installed in 1903 at a cost of £850. It was played for the last time in 2012 by Robert Nicholls, during a Radio Cymru broadcast shortly before the closure of the chapel.

Nonconformity was a major religious movement in Wales from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The Welsh Methodist revival of the 18th century was one of the most significant religious and social movements in the modern history of Wales. The revival began within the Church of England in Wales, partly as a reaction to the neglect generally felt in Wales at the hands of absentee bishops and clergy. For two generations from the 1730s onwards the main Methodist leaders such as Howell Harris, Daniel Rowland and William Williams Pantycelyn remained within the Church of England, but the Welsh revival differed from the Methodist revival in England in that its theology was Calvinist rather than Arminian. Methodists in Wales gradually built up their own networks, structures, and meeting houses, which led, at the instigation of Thomas Charles, to the secession of 1811 and the formal establishment of the Calvinistic Methodist Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1823.

Heolyfelin Chapel, Trecynon, Aberdare was a Welsh Baptist chapel established in 1855. Services were held in the Welsh language. The building seated 800. By December 2015 the chapel had closed and was for sale.

Gwawr, Aberaman was a Baptist chapel in Regent Street, Aberaman, near Aberdare, South Wales, formed as a branch of Calfaria, Aberdare

Seion, Cwmaman is a Welsh Baptist church, originally established in 1859. The chapel closed in 2013 but the church still meets at another location in the village.

Gadlys Chapel Church in Wales

Gadlys Chapel was a Baptist chapel in Railway Street, Gadlys, Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It was formed as a branch of Calfaria, Aberdare.

Ebenezer, Trecynon

Ebenezer, Trecynon was an Independent (Congregationalist) chapel in Ebenezer Street, Trecynon, Aberdare, Wales. It was one of the earliest Independent chapels in the Cynon Valley and remained an active place of worship until 2009.

Ramoth, Hirwaun

Ramoth, Hirwaun originally a Baptist chapel in Davies Row, Hirwaun, Aberdare, Wales. Services at Ramoth were held in the Welsh language. Following renovation in 1982, the building continues to be used for Christian worship as an Assemblies of God fellowship.

Calfaria, Abercynon was a Baptist chapel in Glancynon Street, Abercynon, Mid Glamorgan, Wales. Services at Calfaria were conducted in the Welsh language.

Tabernacle, Abercynon was a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Edward Street, Abercynon, Mid Glamorgan, Wales. Services at Tabernacle were conducted in the Welsh language.

Bryn Seion, Trecynon

Bryn Seion, Trecynon was a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Mill Street, Trecynon, Aberdare, Wales. Services at Bryn Seion were conducted in the Welsh language until it became a Baptist chapel in 1970.

Bethesda, Abercwmboi Church in Wales

Bethesda, Abercwmboi is a Welsh Baptist church in Abercwmboi near Aberdare. Services continue to be held in the Welsh language.

Ebenezer Chapel, Aberavon Church

Ebenezer Chapel, Aberavon, is a Baptist church in Port Talbot, Wales. Built in 1881, it is located in the Civic Square, where it is the only surviving building from the old Port Talbot town centre to have survived the wholesale demolition that preceded the construction of a new town centre during the mid-1970s; the address was formerly "Talbot Street". It has been a listed building since 1980.

English Baptist Church, Carmarthen Church in Wales

The English Baptist Church is a Baptist church in the town of Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The building dates from 1869 and is located at the street address 9 Dark Gate in Lammas Street. The church was designated a Grade II* listed building on 19 May 1981.

Bethania, Cwmbach was a Baptist Chapel at Cwmbach in the Aberdare Valley in Wales. Badly damaged by an air raid attack in 1941 it was subsequently restored but closed in the 1980s. Services were held in the Welsh language.

Bethany, Ammanford

Bethany is a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales. Services are conducted in the Welsh language.

References

  1. 1 2 "Calfaria Baptist Chapel". Images of Wales. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  2. "A Pathetic Result of the Revival. Llanelly Man Removed to the Carmarthen Asylum". Carmarthen Weekly Reporter. 2 December 1904. p. 2. Retrieved 21 June 2016.

Bibliography

Coordinates: 51°40′45″N4°09′18″W / 51.6793°N 4.1550°W / 51.6793; -4.1550