Skip to content

Chapel up for sale at £7,000 as census records declining number

Nicholas BourneBBC Wales
News imagePaul Fosh Auctions The exterior of a chapel - a white building at the top of a valleyPaul Fosh Auctions
The property has come up for auction as a census of Welsh chapels is launched to monitor declining numbers

A chapel which could have potential to be converted into a home has been put up for auction for just £7,000.

While that's about 43 times cheaper than the average price for a UK home (£300,000), Bethel Chapel, in New Tredegar, Caerphilly county, would require planning permission and conversion.

Paul Fosh Auctions' chapel sale later this month comes as the first census in a century is looking at how many chapels remain open for worship in Wales or have since been demolished or converted.

Last year, a report by thinktank the Bevan Foundation said faith-owned spaces - and land - could provide about 6,800 affordable homes in Wales.

News imagePaul Fosh Auctions The inside seating of the chapel Paul Fosh Auctions
The chapel is full of wooden seats from where worshippers once sang hymns

Built in 1860, Bethel Chapel's auction listing describes it as "delightful" and featuring a pulpit, pews and first floor open gallery of wooden seating from where worshippers once sang and prayed.

"This is a great opportunity for conversion to a residential home or community use subject to necessary planning consents," it said.

News imagePaul Fosh Auctions A wooden balcony area with a cross on the chapel wall Paul Fosh Auctions
The chapel is more than 150 years old, but no longer in use

Nearly 6,500 chapel sites across Wales have been recorded in the history books.

But there is currently no accurate national record of how many are still active, according to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW).

It has secured National Lottery Heritage Fund support for its project, Capeli Cymru: Preserving the Nonconformist Heritage of Wales which will mirror the last such census in 1905.

News imageRCAHMW Interior view of Zion Baptist Chapel, looking from front to back of the church to the wooden pulpit and golden pipe organ surrounded by wooden pews and beneath an arched roofRCAHMW
News imageRCAHMW Interior view of chapel with paint peeling off the walls and its wooden pews and pulpit partly broken and in disarray and covered in crumbling plasterRCAHMW
Zion Baptist Chapel, Newtown, Powys, is one of a small number of Grade II* listed Welsh chapels. It was sold at auction in 2024, according to the RCAHMW
The tiny rural chapel of Sardis, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, Gwynedd, has fallen into ruin since being closed in 1980

For chapels no longer in religious use, the census will also gather information on their current uses and those that have potential for reuse.

The Bevan Foundation report estimated 25% of places of worship had closed in the last decade.

"The wider benefits of finding a new use for these spaces - often prominent features on our landscape - must not be forgotten," it said.

"Once they lose their purpose, disrepair and dereliction can soon follow.

"This in turn can lead to negative community perceptions and instigate a cycle of decline."

It said redeveloping existing buildings, especially with those regarded as historically important, presented some challenges and complexities but that they weren't necessarily insurmountable.

"There are no easy wins, but there are plenty of opportunities," it said.

More top stories