Williams Memorial Chapel (Penydarren)

Merthyr’s Chapels: Williams Memorial Chapel, Penydarren

Williams Memorial Congregationalist Chapel, Penydarren

At the beginning of the 20^th Century it was decided to build an English Independent Chapel for the rapidly growing population in Penydarren.

A committee of representatives of local Independent chapels was set up in 1901 and they agreed that the first task was to establish a Sunday School. This opened in Penydarren Boys School on 9 March 1902. More than a year was to pass before the first church service was held there on 12 April 1903, and on 25 May, the church was officially formed with 32 members, and a special service was held in Horeb Chapel.

The future of the church was discussed at a meeting presided over by Alderman Thomas Williams, J.P. (right), who owned much land in Penydarren. He was a staunch follower of the Independent movement and a supporter of the new church, and promised to make a gift to help build it. However, Alderman Williams died just two months later, but he had already arranged for a plot of land to be leased to the chapel in Brynheulog Street for 999 years at a rent of just one shilling a year. It was thus decided to name the chapel in honour of him.

On 19 November 1903, a meeting took place to discuss building the new chapel, and Messrs Owen Morris Roberts & Son, Porthmadoc were chosen to design the chapel. The committee decided that the cost of the building was not to exceed £1,800

The original plan submitted included a gallery and a schoolroom, but the committee decided that this plan was too ambitious and costly for their chapel, and also the members of the other Independent Churches recommended that the cost should be no more than £1,000, as there had been a very disappointing response to the original appeal for financial aid towards the building of the chapel.

After several further revisions of the plans, a tender was accepted for the work from Mr Samuel Evans of Dowlais, the cost being £1,258, and the stone laying took place on 19 July 1906.

The official opening of the chapel took place on 25 October 1906, and it was first used as a place of worship two days later. Due to an oversight however, the church wasn’t officially certified by the Registrar General as a place of worship until 2 July 1917.

The Chapel closed in 1996 and was subsequently demolished.

A Sacred Concert

Seventy years ago today…….

Merthyr’s Chapels: Elim Chapel, Penydarren

In our regular feature on the chapels of Merthyr, we next take a look at the history of Elim Baptist Chapel in Penydarren.

In 1841, Rev William Robert Davies, minister at Caersalem Chapel in Dowlais decided that a new Baptist cause should be started in Penydarren to cater for the ever growing population there. Land was leased from the Penydarren Iron Company and the chapel, named Elim was built in 1842.

In 1849, the infamous cholera epidemic struck Merthyr which caused the death of 1,682 in Merthyr and Dowlais alone (see previous entry – www.merthyr-history.com/?p=123). On 4 August, cholera struck Rev Davies’ household, when his daughter died of the disease. Despite his grief, Rev Davies continued to visit the sick and comforted their relatives. One of the results of the cholera was a sudden upsurge in chapel attendance, and on the last two Sundays of August alone Rev Davies baptised no less than 150 people.

By this time he had begun discussing with the deacons the possibility of appointing another minister to help him continue the work at Caersalem. However, before this could be acted upon, Davies was himself struck down by the cholera on 1 September. He became suddenly ill at nine o’clock in the morning, and by seven o’clock that same evening he was dead. He was buried in the same grave as his daughter at the graveyard at Elim Chapel. He was 51 years old.

Elim continued to be considered as a branch of Caersalem until it gained its independence in 1852. The congregation continued to grow however, and the chapel was rebuilt in 1858.

By the 1930’s it had become obvious to the members that the chapel needed a new schoolroom to accommodate the burgeoning Sunday School at Elim Chapel. The materials necessary to build the school room were offered to the chapel at a very reasonable price on the condition that the members of the chapel could collect them. As this was the time of the Great Depression, and the Dowlais Works having recently closed, most of the men at the chapel found themselves unemployed, so they collected the materials, and built the school room themselves. The women of the chapel organised many activities to raise money towards the building. The schoolroom was opened on 18 July 1933.

Elim Chapel, Penydarren in 1933 showing the recently built new schoolroom

On the night of 23 December 1977 Elim was severely damaged in a storm, the roof was blown off. The chapel was beyond repair and had to be demolished the following year. Services were subsequently held at Williams Memorial Chapel until that chapel closed, and the remaining members of the congregation rejoined their mother church at Caersalem.

Elim Chapel following the collapse of the front wall as a result of the storm

A development of flats for senior citizens has now been built on the site of the chapel and is called Hafan Elim.

Alderman Thomas Williams, J.P.

Today marks the anniversary of the death of one of Merthyr’s most important residents – Thomas Williams.

Thomas Williams was born in Merthyr Tydfil on 11 November 1823, but when he was five years old, his parents, David and Susannah Williams moved to Hirwaun to open a grocery business.

At sixteen, Thomas returned to Merthyr as an assistant to Mr David Rosser, grocer; and in 1842 he became a member of Zoar Chapel. Within two years however, he returned to Hirwaun to open his own grocery business, and he remained there until 1852 when he moved to Aberdare to larger premises. Throughout this time, Williams remained a faithful member of the Welsh Independent movement and joined Nebo Chapel in Hirwaun where he became a deacon.

During his time in Aberdare, Thomas Williams joined Ebenezer Chapel, Trecynon where he eventually became secretary, and he was elected to a number of eminent positions in the community – Poor-law Guardian; member of the Burial Board; member of the Board of Health and High Constable.

Following the closure of the Penydarren Ironworks in 1859, several schemes were initiated to re-start iron production. One such scheme occurred in 1864, and Thomas Williams decided to sell his business and invest in the scheme, and thus moved back to Merthyr. Within a year he and his business partner, Mr Davis sold the works, making a handsome profit and invested in the College Lock Iron Works in Llandaff. Over the next few years, Thomas Williams proved to be an astute business man and soon amassed a large fortune, buying large parcels of land in Merthyr. Upon returning to Merthyr, Williams renewed his membership at Zoar Chapel and was immediately made a deacon.

Within a short period of time, Thomas Williams was elected to several important positions in the town. As well as continuing to serve in the same positions of authority that he had occupied in Aberdare, he was elected Chairman of the Merthyr Building Society and Vice-Chairman of the School Board and was elected Justice of the Peace in 1874. Through all of this Thomas Williams remained a staunch member of Zoar and became secretary of the chapel and a Sunday School teacher there and was a life-long supporter of the temperance movement. In 1872 he was instrumental in the formation of the Welsh Congregational Union, and was appointed treasurer at its commencement.

Throughout his life, Thomas Williams was a great philanthropist and many organisations benefitted from his generosity, indeed his last public engagement was at meeting to discuss the building of a new English Congregational Chapel in Penydarren, where he arranged the lease of for a plot of land for the new chapel at a nominal rent, and he made a gift in trust towards the building of the chapel. Within two months of this meeting however, Thomas Williams died on 9 July 1903. His funeral on Monday 13 July was one of the largest Merthyr had seen, with ministers and representatives from every church and chapel in the town, and indeed from all over Wales, as well as dignitaries from Merthyr and the whole of Wales.

In his will, Thomas Williams made a number of bequests to the Trustees of Zoar Chapel:-

“a) £500 for investment, and annual income thereof to be applied in defraying the cost of such Lectures on theological, social, temperance, travel (including Mission work) abroad, and such like subjects as the minister and deacons of Zoar Chapel shall think of interest and benefit; b) £700 for investment in aid of the support of the ministry of such chapel; c) £150 for investment, the income to be applied towards the support of the Sunday School of such chapel; d) £150 for investment, the income to be applied towards the support and assistance of such poor and deserving persons, members of Zoar Chapel, as the minister and deacons of such chapel shall from time to time in their absolute discretion deem worthy of aid; e) £150 towards the fund for building a schoolroom in connection with such chapel.”

Thomas Williams’ legacy was felt throughout Merthyr for many years. The English Congregational Chapel in Penydarren was finally completed in 1906 and was named Williams Memorial Chapel in honour of him.

The Thomas Williams Memorial Lectures became an institution in the town until the 1980’s; Twynyrodyn Sunday School was built due to the bequest and Zoar Chapel itself managed to keep functioning as a place of worship for many years despite the dwindling congregation due to Thomas Williams, legacy.