Journey to an Aberdare Chapel

Posted on November 28th, 2009 filed in Aberdare History, Aberdare People, Chapel & Church, History, People, Writing, You Blog

The end of my story is this: the people of Aberdare are extraordinary, writes American Jane Powel Thomas.

The beginning lies in the very rich past of Aberdare when one (or possibly more) of my husband’s ancestors was the minister of the Ebenezer Chapel in Aberdare, now located in the Trecynon area. Both of us have a Welsh background, my husband’s family from North Wales and mine from the Brecon area. As a child, my husband was brought to Aberdare to see the church where his great, great grandfather was minister, and he was moved by the fascinating, still-operating chapel that included an interior plaque
commemorating his ancestor, the Rev. Edwards.

He has been trying to find this chapel again ever since!

In several visits to Aberdare, we have not been able to find the actual church, even with the help of the very able and kind library associates as well as the advice of some business people and even the local post office. During our September visit, we were meandering–trying to find anything that my husband might recognize–and saw a building that looked a bit like it might be the one. It wasn’t. However, a young woman who was in her garden at the time told us that she knew of the Ebenezer Chapel because her children had been in concerts there.

Her husband came out of the house to see what was going on. And then this incredibly kind and generous couple got in their car and led us directly to the chapel, tucked up into a little back street that we would never have found on our own!

The chapel itself, of course, is closed, and unfortunately, we were not able to contact the caretaker. However, we now know where it is and plan to contact him when next time we visit. We hope to be able to see the inside someday.

The adventure of searching for this little chapel was almost as much fun as finding it, and we have very warm feelings for Aberdare and its people. The very gracious couple who helped us went off without leaving their names–a true example of the Good Samaritan, helping someone with no expectation of getting something in return. You really don’t see that very often these days.

Aberdare and its people are extraordinary! And so is this very cool website. Thank you for allowing me to write this.