Capel Seilo, Nant Gwrtheyrn

link_to_welsh_textlink_to_french_translationCapel Seilo, Nant Gwrtheyrn

This chapel was built in 1878, at a cost of £300. It replaced a wooden pavilion where the residents of the quarrying village first gathered for worship. Today a café and restaurant stands on the site of the pavilion.

Capel Seilo had seating for 130. Services were held in Welsh and English. There were also prayer meetings, a Band of Hope and a regular seiat – a Welsh chapel tradition which offered congregation members the chance to discuss theology. By 1900, some 60 children attended Sunday school at the chapel.

The chapel went into decline from 1914, as the local quarries’ fortunes waxed and waned. Quarrying ended in 1939. The chapel remained derelict after the village was rebuilt in the early 1980s as the home of the National Language Centre, where residential courses were provided for people who wished to improve their Welsh.

In 2003 the chapel was rebuilt and reconsecrated. Services are held in the chapel as well as wedding and christening ceremonies. The building is open as a visitor centre whenever the language centre is open. Exhibits and displays tell the stories of Nant Gwrtheyrn and some of its residents. Caernarfon-based architect Maredudd ab Iestyn designed the chapel’s conversion for its new role, including the glass extension on the west gable.

Postcode: LL53 6NL    View Location Map

Nant Gwrtheyrn website

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