The remains of an old quarrymen’s chapel in a remote valley have long been poignant reminder of Eryri’s slate mining past. Yet its recent deterioration has raised questions about the preservation of the region’s industrial heritage following UNESCO designation.
Capel y Gorlan was a Calvinistic Methodist chapel in the Cwmorthin valley, near Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog. Its construction was self-funded by quarrymen in need for spiritual relief from the daily rigours of their often dangerous work. Conditions at nearby Cwmorthin quarry were so poor, and the death rate so high, it was nicknamed The Slaughterhouse (Y Lladd-dy).
The building – also known as Rhosydd Chapel or Capel Conglog – actually started life as a Sunday School for local quarry families. Before it began being used for worship in 1867, Methodists met instead at a now ruined farmhouse across the valley.
The History Points website notes: “Much of the impetus for building the chapel came from Thomas Jones, the quarry’s overseer. He lived at Plas Cwmorthin and was a skilled orator and leader. To ensure that no chapel service was cancelled or delayed, he would send a servant and horse down the valley each Sunday to carry that week’s preacher to the chapel.”
When Rhosydd quarry closed in 1930, the chapel fell into disuse. Perched behind a slate slab fence linking the quarries of Rhosydd and Cwmorthin, the modest yet striking chapel became an iconic feature for generations of visitors. Exuding an air of quiet reverence, it stood as a testament to the people who once worked in this unforgiving landscape.
In the early 1990s, deterioration gathered pace when the building’s roof slates were stolen. By 2013 its interior and back gable wall had collapsed. A local archaeology group tried to arrest the decline by capping the walls and even in 2022 all its elegant arched window openings were still intact.
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Since then, further decay has set in. Another wall has collapsed, destroying two window arches and leaving a second tumble of stones on the grass. More recently a tall window arch on the frontage has also fallen down. For regular visitors, it’s a distressing sight.
“It’s shocking,” said a Porthmadog man online. “Beautiful and peaceful location but I struggle to hold back a tear when I see how ruinous it has become in the last 30 years.”
Even among those who would liked to have seen the chapel preserved, there’s universal acceptance it’s now beyond repair. There’s a worry that Capel y Gorlan’s decline is symbolic of what’s happening right across the World Heritage Site slate landscapes of northwest Wales.
On social media, a local professional photographer said: “Must admit that when the slate quarries received the UNESCO heritage status back in 2021, I thought there would be greater efforts to prevent any further decline of important buildings, which this (Capel y Gorlan) is certainly one.
“Sadly not and we continue to lose these important parts of Wales’ industrial heritage, a real shame. Even in Llanberis all the money is being spent on the museum. The buildings in the (Dinowig) quarry workings are deteriorating just as quickly as Cwmorthin.”
When the World Heritage proposal was submitted, focusing on six quarrying areas, the aim was to create a “buffer zone” protecting the settings and views of six quarrying areas.
Another objective was to leave physical legacy for future generations. It was proposed that local planning authorities would “preserve and where appropriate, enhance its unique heritage assets”.
Many quarry assets and features have since been listed, or are scheduled monuments. Yet conserving so many of them was always going to be tricky: the jam would only spread so far. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
Since the designation, £38m worth of investment has been attracted to the World Heritage Site. Community projects have benefitted, while preservation has focused on key projects like the National Slate Museum, Llanberis, and the Ffestiniog Railway’s workshop at Boston Lodge, Porthmadog.
