Churches, Chapels, and Desirable Residences

Last updated on: December 2, 2016 at 1:41 am by Philip Jenkins

Churches, Chapels, and Desirable Residences 2016-12-01T14:08:46-04:00 Philip Jenkins

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

At a recent Sunday service, my church sang the hymn “Come thou fount of every blessing,” with its line “Here I raise my Ebenezer, Hither by thy help I come.” This is a classic example of a line that made wonderful sense to a Biblically-literate audience, who knew that Ebenezer was a “stone of help” erected by the prophet Samuel. (The hymn dates from 1758). Other news stories that I read shortly afterwards underlined for me the growing oblivion into which such names have fallen in more secular modern times. And one story in particular offers a gorgeous visual symbol of modern European secularization.

I grew up in Wales, in a remarkably Biblical-sounding landscape. Over the past three centuries, Protestant Nonconformists had erected many chapels, variously serving Baptist, Presbyterian and Independent congregations. (This was South Wales, so the Calvinistic Methodists were not much in evidence). Most of those chapels had some kind of Biblical name, and we were awash with Bethany, Bethesda, Hebron, Carmel, Salem, and Ebenezer, besides the obvious Calfaria (Calvary). Such chapels boomed astonishingly following the great revivals, of which 1904-1905 was the most sensational.

Wikipedia offers a useful page on the names of churches and chapels in Wales.

I say nothing about how or whether those abundant names in the landscape had much impact on people’s actual knowledge of the religious background – scarcely at all, I think.

So much is familiar enough for Americans (and Australians, Canadians…) but what is different in this instance is the radical secularization that has overtaken Wales in recent times, making it in fact one of the more secular regions of modern Europe. Insofar as Christianity survives in Wales, it is overwhelmingly in Anglican and Roman Catholic forms that those old Nonconformists would have abhorred.

So what happened to those old chapels? Over time, they faded and closed, and they remain as ghosts on the landscape, although the names remained. In my home town of Port Talbot, Bethany was a well known landmark, and a central bus stop. Elsewhere, the chapels gave their names to towns, like Bethesda in North Wales. The congregations aged and died, migrated away, or otherwise evaporated, while family size shrunk dramatically. By 2001, even the still surviving chapels were closing at the rate of one a week. My town’s local Bethany (Presbyterian) celebrated its centennial in 1979, but by 2012 it was vacant and for sale.

As to the buildings themselves, plenty were demolished, usually before concern with historic preservation paid much attention to buildings of that particular era. Many were reused in various forms – as houses, shops, and warehouses. I quote a 2012 story:

“A chapel in Aberystwyth has been turned into a doctor’s surgery. They have kept the pulpit and that is the rostrum in their seminar room. There are all sorts of things you can do if you have the imagination. In Rhyl for instance, there are various chapels which closed – one is now an Islamic Cultural Centre but if you look at it from the outside it is still basically a chapel. Beautiful work has been done on the old Carmel Welsh independent chapel which is a pawnbrokers and an IT cafe – but they’ve done a good job.” (This whole story is well worth reading).

Other recent stories are grimmer. An old chapel near Aberystwyth dating from 1842 is very ruinous, and is currently on sale for around $40,000. “And the chapel would make the perfect Halloween purchase for one lucky buyer – because it comes with its very own graveyard.”

At the other end of the spectrum, that brings me to the other news story I mentioned, entitled “Welsh church goes on sale complete with its own SAUNA: Buyers will also get a bell tower, traditional arched windows and oak doors.” Do please follow the link for some visuals, to see how the building has been not just secularized, but transformed into a quite luxurious residence. It is “a four-bedroom home complete with modern kitchen, patio areas and wet room with a sauna. …. Featuring an unusual curved kitchen area and a balcony overlooking the first floor, the church has wooden beams and large windows throughout – a nod to its history as a place of worship.”

Although the story gives no denominational background, the building involved is indeed a converted church (Anglican) rather than a Nonconformist chapel, but the transition is the same as in those other cases, all those Bethanies, Ebenezers, and Calfarias.

To put the story in context, you can find an ecclesiastical history of the region, which traces the story back to the ancient pilgrimage shrine of St. Mabon, and then through a series of medieval and later parish churches. In modern times, facing sharply declining numbers, several older parishes were merged into one larger administrative entity.

And then one became a nice sauna, with its “nods to its history.”

See these images, and you have a symbol of a striking historical trajectory. It meshes so well with the material I was recently discussing about Philip Larkin’s Church Going.

Previous Post

December 1, 2016

The Crisis of Corporate Evangelicalism (Part 7 - a glimpse at the future?)

Next Post

December 3, 2016 The Problems of Writing Biography (Part 2 - Who's Significant?)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe Guest Post guest post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Wise men Disciples Shepherds Fishermen