The cause for Bethany Baptist chapel was established on 7th September 1806 by six people (George Brown, Edmund Ward, Thomas Lewis, Thomas Hopkins, Sarah Lewis and Keziah Viner). At first, they worshipped in a room at Queen’s Head pub and the first chapel was opened 10th July 1807 on a small scale. It was rebuilt in 1821-1827 at a cost of £2,800 together with a foundation stone: reopened with two days of serves and celebratory teas, with an estimated 1,200 people present. This chapel was further enlarged in 1840.
In 1865 the congregation decided to rebuild the chapel again – John Hartland, Cardiff architect was appointed, and the building work was by Cardiff contractors Messr.s James and Price. The foundation stone was laid by Thomas Hopkins, the only remaining survivor of the original six members. The chapel was built on a larger scale (seating 950) and the façade in a grand Classical style with elaborately carved stonework, even though little of it could be seen from Queen Street . The interior was dominated by rows of bronze painted pillars with Corinthian capitals supporting the gallery, elegant arches, and an elaborate cast-iron front to the gallery, together with beautiful lighting that “all present an appearance the farthest removed from the severity and gloom of Calvinist theology, but according well with the ‘beauty of holiness’ and ‘light of life’ (The Cardiff Times, 12 May 1865). The first-floor gallery has far more windows than were usual, because so little light would have come through the ground floor windows in this cramped loactaion. It had a baptistry in front of the pulpit, lined with Minton tiles, for total immersion baptisms. Despite the very fine woodwork, ironwork, plasterwork etc… the cost of the chapel is said to have cost only £2,800 – all funded by subscriptions and donations from within the congregation themselves. The RCCEORBWM survey of 1904,gave the value of the chapel as £15,000. In 1907 a service of celebration was held for the chapel’s centenary, at which a brass plaque was unveiled commemorating the founders of the chapel.
In addition to the chapel, there is a Sunday school which seated over 500 scholars: this was rebuilt in 1879 on this increased scale due to the huge expansion of people attending, It was constructed at a cost of £2,000 with a large lecture room, a library, and Sunday school classrooms and where activities and entertainments throughout the week could be held – tea parties, lectures, debating and improvement societies, as well as religious instruction.
By the late 1950s, access to the church had become difficult owing to the commercial nature of the area and in 1965 the congregation removed to premises in Rhiwbina. By 1969, extension of the neighbouring Howells Department Store (Nprn 54077) had engulfed the chapel, which was incorporated within the department store itself retaining many original features.
The chapel was a large building on a gable-entry plan seating around 950 people with a Sunday school to the rear and surrounded by burial grounds. It was built of coursed multicolour rubble with lighter stone dressings and slate roofs. Large central elevation with lower arcades to the right and left. The entrance was in a narrow arch with arched recesses to the right and left, all with exaggerated triple keystones and separated by square pilasters. The recess to the right of the door contained a memorial plaque to Rawlins White, a local fisherman who was one of the three people to be burned as heretics during the reign of Mary I. Above the entrance was a large arched window with two smaller arched windows to right and left, all containing stained glass and all with exaggerated keystones in the arches. The central elevation was topped with a coped pediment with a circular design displaying the name of the chapel. Along the sides of the central elevation, above the catslide roofs of the aisles, were arcades of arched windows. A domed belfry protruded from the centre of the main roof. Internally, the balcony was supported on cast-iron pillars above which were arcades of arches with floral designs in the spandrels supported by cast iron pillars with ornate Corinthian capitals.
Many of these features can still be seen within the current structure, such as the lower front arches and memorial plaque, as well as the balcony arcade and cast-iron pillars. Externally, the upper part of the chapel, including the upper front windows, front pediment, and belfry, are preserved, albeit largely concealed from view from the street.
RCAHMW, January 2025
Sources:
Royal Commission Chapels database;
Cadw Listed Buildings Database
Davies, Pocket Guide of Cardiff (Cardiff: 2002), p. 30
South Wales Daily News 19 April 1879