I stopped to photograph this neat little 1865 Primitive Methodist chapel, and also chatted with its next-door neighbour. He used to attend it three times a Sunday, and says it has been closed for “at least twenty years.” It was offered for sale to him, but he did not wish to increase his property. It was, he says, “sold for peanuts”, and is now a private house.
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There is an account by Edward Parry of the opening of the chapel on 2nd February 1866 in the Primitive Methodist magazine of November 1866 (pages 692-693). The foundation stone had been laid on October 6th 1865.
Mr Savin had bought the land for the chapel from Francis Griffiths. The foundation stones were laid , and donations given, by JK Lea (Bagley), Miss Green (Knockin), Mrs Parry, Mr Griffiths, D Davies (contractor) and S Ward. Preachers at the opening included Rev H Newman (Crewe) and JK Lea (Bagley)
A picture of this chapel taken in 2005 can be viewed by following the link to Shropshire’s Nonconformist Chapels
There were Primitive Methodists in Porth-y-waen as early as 1824. A plan of that year shows it as having week night meetings. In 1845 there were Sunday services as well but the chapel now standing was not built until 1865. The land was bought on 20th July 1865 and the foundation stone laid in October of that year. An account of this was reported in the Oswestry Advertiser and Montgomeryshire Mercury Quarterly of 11th October 1865 indicating that the cost of the chapel would be about £250. No record of the opening can be found but it is thought that it took place in August 1866. There was seating for 105 people. The owner of the present building says he has not completed the alterations to change the chapel into a dwelling. He is living in the part which was the Sunday School added in 1939.
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