Beulah Chapel, Little Newcastle, Pembrokeshire

Description

Name: Beulah Chapel

Denomination: Welsh Baptist

Built: 1808
Rebuilt: 1874, 1887
Restored: 1910

Photography: Jill Morgan
Date: 11 November 2015
Camera: Nikon CoolPix S620 digital compact

Note 1: The current chapel is of stone, built on the gable entry plan type in the Arts and Crafts Style. The façade has a hooded door inscribed "1808 BEULAH 1910" above which is a stepped, flat-headed tripartite window containing small panes of leaded green glass. Side elevations are lit by two storeys of flat-headed windows.
The first chapel was completed in 1808, the opening sermon preached on Easter Monday. This was built in the long-wall form. The church was incorporated in 1823 with 135 members released from Llangloffan. It was rebuilt in 1874, and again in 1887 and restored in 1910. This was major reconstruction work carried out by the architects G Morgan & Son of Carmarthen and builder Daniel Thomas, and was due to the efforts of the minister Jacob John. Baptisms took place in the nearby River Angof. In the early 20th century the chapel went into decline and had to rejoin with Smyrna Chapel [at Puncheston] in 1927. In May 2014 there was only one member and the chapel due to close in the very near future. [Source: Coflein, the online database of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (accessed 30 January 2017)]

Note 2: With just one member and plans initiated to terminate the cause, it is hard to imagine how flourishing Beulah once was and the big part it played in the religious and cultural life of the community. Baptists are first recorded in Little Newcastle in 1697 and maintained a steady presence in the village throughout the eighteenth century, but it was the coming of the school-master Joseph James to the village which really quickened the religious life of the area... [For further details see Local Information Leaflet 75 published by Capel: The Chapels Heritage Society, 2013]

• http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/churches/little-newcastle1.htm (link opens in new window)