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Cwmorthin: 2  The Chapels of Cwmorthin

9/4/2017

2 Comments

 
Capel Gorlan, Cwmorthin
​The second of my occasional photographic wanders around Cwmorthin, this time focussing on the chapels. Yes, there are two!

The first needs no introduction and is almost, in the current parlance, an "iconic" feature. Capel Rhosydd (also known as Capel y Gorlan and Capel Conglog), is a gaunt shape sited by the track where the tramway diverts across the fields, behind a slate slab fence. It hasn't always looked so neglected. Many local folk  remember the chapel with a roof (some even profess to know who stole the slates).
Capel Rhosydd, Dave Linton
Photograph of Capel Rhosydd in June 1995 by kind courtesy of Dave Linton.
​Given that the quarrymen at Cwmorthin were for the most part a civilised, educated and god-fearing band of workers, it isn't surprising that a chapel was built for the families and children as well as the men themselves.  The building was paid for, not by the quarry company (of course not, why would they do that?) but by subscription from the men themselves, costing between two and three hundred pounds.
Capel Rhosydd, Cwmorthin
​A school for the children of the quarrymen in the valley was founded in 1855 by Thomas Jones and Griffith Evans, based in Cwmorthin Uchaf farmhouse, although the accomodation was less than satisfactory. It found a permanent home at the chapel in 1867.
Cwmorthin
​I won't plagiarise the excellent research done by Cofio Cwmorthin, but refer the interested reader to their site for much more detail on the chapel. Suffice to say that the chapel has appeared on book covers, calendars, numerous web sites and albums and is a much-loved landmark.

It's something of a milestone for me, as I usually have a cup of coffee from my flask, sitting in the shelter of the walls, when returning from an expedition in the cwm. On my most recent visit, I had intended to go up the flanks of Foel Ddu, and had followed a track marked on the map, going up the slopes to the north of the chapel. This was obviously a right of way remembered by the OS, but in 1890-  before Rhosydd had started tipping so energetically. By now, it had become more of a scramble/severe climb near the top.  At this point the wind was so fierce that I could hardly stand! I ended up wandering around the relative shelter of Rhosydd that day.
Cwmorthin, Iain Robinson
​But back in the chapel on my return, I sat and savoured my flask of "Grumpy Mule",  listening to the wind howling round the walls. It was hard to imagine the bank of pews, or the minister giving a sermon amid the ruins and yet, there was something of an atmosphere. I've mentioned Jan Fortune's poems about the cwm before now, and her lines about the wind singing hymns in the walls was never more true. I felt somehow as if I had been granted asylum for a small time, out of the wind which was now becoming very strong indeed. A party of walkers passed outside, bent like soft alloy against the forces of nature, yet there I was, sipping coffee like a gent. Luckily, no stones fell off on me, and I walked out into the gale, the elements harrying me down the cwm and out to the car park for the short drive home.
Cwmorthin, Iain Robinson
​The second chapel is an interesting one. It predates Capel Rhosydd by a year and was built to hold a hundred devout souls. It must have been a tight squeeze, because that seems an optimistic estimate to me. Capel Tiberias, as it was known, was an independent congregational chapel, built at the same time as the cottages of Tai Llyn, the barracks at the threshold of the cwm. There are no records as to how it was funded, but it was used by Cwmorthin and Wrysgan men and their families as far as I can ascertain. There is still a reasonably defined track leading to it and it holds a good position in a sheltered lee of the hillside. These days it is little more than a pile of stones and no photographs have yet been discovered showing how it might have looked during it's use.

Some Further reading:
Cofio Cwmorthin Remembered

Some interesting photographs on my learned colleague Alen Mcfadzean's blog, "Because they're there"

Grateful thanks to Dave Linton for permission to use his photographs of Capel Rhosydd in the eighties.

Slate Voices: Islands of Netherlorn and Cwmorthin by Jan Fortune and Mavis Gulliver, Cinnamon Press, ISBN 978-1-909077-24-9
Inside Capel Rhosydd
Capel Rhosydd, from the slopes of Moel Ddu
A final shot from 1995, courtesy of Dave Linton
2 Comments
Laura
10/10/2018 03:30:12 am

What a perfectly magical and glorious tribute to the miners who skimped and saved for these chapels. The photos in both sections are -what's the word- bucolic? which I just looked up and it means "pastoral poem" so that's ok, but I think I meant beatific, both in words and photos...

The lead photo for section two exemplifies why the chapel was built where it was; all those golden hills would have made them seem all that much closer to heaven as they sang glorious music to God. But the distant shot through shadows in section one with just a hint of sundog coloring seems even more triumphant. The place has charisma from just about any direction, at least with your camera :)

The imagery of the mining families setting aside hard-earned coin so that these places could be built gave me shivers, mainly because it brought forth the humanity behind these ruins. And also reading that you use the ruins as a refuge with the "wind singing hymns" made me smile. To have the artistry for creating these photos is wonderful; to be able to dig around and find pertinent info and combine with personal experience is fantastic; but to hand over the reins with such aplomb to the artists and writers who came before you is the mark of a truly great person. And that is what makes reading your blog entries so addictive. It's so rare in this world now to come across people who know how to be truly humble. Not for the sake of having others pat them on the back for the effort, but for the sheer rightness of it. :)

I'm so glad you haven't had any serious harm come from falling stones or other worries, although I seem to remember you had a face-off with a bull, was it last year? ;) Faced it down in true style, you did!

I have lots of questions but it's getting late and I do intend to visit "Cofio Cwmorthin Remembered" soon, which may provide answers, such as why this slate fence was built and by whom... It must have taken eons, and appears to be as a route to the chapel? Perhaps...

Reply
Iain Robinson
10/10/2018 09:26:36 am

Thank you, Laura. Your extremely generous comments are greatly appreciated- as you say, I don't write these little articles to please anyone but myself, yet it gives me enormous pleasure to know that you enjoy them.
I was touched by the miner's generosity, all over Wales they proved themselves by their actions. In Croesor, they gave a penny a week to go towards founding Bangor University, something that would not benefit them, yet enriched the whole of North Wales, and still does. A penny was a lot back in the 1870s.
The poets that I mention are all proper poets who seem to know the words to use with uncanny accuracy. gwyn Thomas is my favourite- he lived in Blaenau near where I live. His work is only available in Welsh and it is a difficult but a vastly enriching enterprise to translate it.
The slate slab road was actually once a tramway that connected Rhosydd quarry at the end of the cwm to Cwmorthin and the Ffestiniog Railway down in the valley at Tan-y-Grisiau, but it is a long story of underhand dealings by the owners and managers...I cover it in this post- http://www.iainrobinson.online/tracks/category/conglog-mine

The slab fences are wonderful and still survive all over North Wales...I am glad you like them. Thanks again for reading my posts and commenting so eloquently, it makes me very happy to know that they contain something worth mulling over.

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