HIDDEN for 100 years: The Forgotten Chapel in the Welsh hills

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Today, I'm visiting a forgotten relic hidden deep [music] in the Welsh hills.

[00:00:05]This is a mid-19th century chapel abandoned in the early 1900s and left to the elements. [music] It is one of the most atmospheric lesser-known spots in Wales.

[00:00:17]It's a [music] place where time has stood still for over 100 years.

[00:00:21]Let's uncover the story of this hauntingly beautiful location.

[00:00:27]>> [music] [music] >> Okay, I've driven pretty much as far as I can up this hillside.

[00:00:55]But, I've still got a bit of a trek in front of me.

[00:01:00]Look at this tree has fallen down here.

[00:01:05]There's another two here.

[00:01:07]Must have been a hell of a storm.

[00:01:12]A big thanks to Matt Spanicutt for letting me know about this location.

[00:01:19]Please check out his Instagram. He's got some truly amazing photographs on there.

[00:01:28]I've said that I'm not going to name the location.

[00:01:32]If Matt hadn't told me about the location, I don't think I would ever have found it myself.

[00:01:38]There's very little information about the place online.

[00:01:43]The chapel was established in the 1850s.

[00:01:46]And the first burial to take place there was in 1870.

[00:01:52]This road actually is a dead end. It leads up to a farm.

[00:01:57]But, there's a public footpath that runs either through or near the farmyard.

[00:02:04]I've been itching to come here for a number of weeks now, but I've been waiting for perfect weather conditions.

[00:02:18]Did you hear that?

[00:02:22]That's a cuckoo bird.

[00:02:39]Apparently, there are some other abandoned chapels in this valley.

[00:02:44]But, the one that we're visiting today is the only one which has a cemetery [snorts] attached to it.

[00:02:53]There's a sign just behind me saying that there's a public footpath down this [snorts] way.

[00:02:58]But, I can see another sign just over there.

[00:03:03]So, I don't know which way to go now.

[00:03:08]Okay, I think it's down this way.

[00:03:12]I've still got a bit of a trek to go.

[00:03:17]Scenery is amazing here.

[00:03:19]Look at that.

[00:03:30]Okay, I'm on the other side of the farm now.

[00:03:34]I hope I'm on the right path.

[00:03:37]This road kind of forked again.

[00:03:43]If I'm right, the chapel should be just along here on the left-hand side.

[00:03:49]Wow, that's unusual.

[00:03:52]Kind of two stone slabs with a big boulder on top of it.

[00:03:58]I wonder if there's a story about this place.

[00:04:05]Perfect weather conditions.

[00:04:08]Nice and sunny with blue skies.

[00:04:11]And even though we're quite high up here, there's only a light breeze.

[00:04:17]Caution, livestock.

[00:04:23]Does that mean there's a bull here?

[00:04:31]I can see the ruins of the chapel just in front of me now.

[00:04:41]The place was renovated in 1902.

[00:04:45]But, sometime between then and 1948, it had been abandoned due to depopulation.

[00:04:57]There used to be a community here of around 10 houses.

[00:05:02]But, only the farms remain. Wow, look at that.

[00:05:17]Wow.

[00:05:24]I'd say it passed from a couple of locals and some hikers. Very few people know about this place.

[00:05:42]This is the view from the other side.

[00:05:46]The chapel is very small and quite basic.

[00:05:50]There is a photograph of the chapel when it was still intact.

[00:05:56]I'll show you that photo later on.

[00:06:08]And the cemetery is very small.

[00:06:13]Maybe some unmarked graves.

[00:06:19]Although, there may be some unmarked graves here.

[00:06:37]Let's have a quick look inside the chapel.

[00:06:48]Yeah, very basic tiny chapel.

[00:07:19]I've not seen a single person on the path.

[00:07:33]Let's have a look in the cemetery itself.

[00:07:46]Grave with the railings here.

[00:07:49]This was the first person to be buried here in 1870.

[00:07:58]Actually, I tell a lie.

[00:08:01]I think this is actually the first.

[00:08:05]John, son of Robert and Ann Griffiths.

[00:08:09]The one who died August 10th, 1870 at 22 years old.

[00:08:15]And then there's a eulogy that was written by a a famous poet in the area who was friends with um John Roberts.

[00:08:27]This is the English translation of the eulogy.

[00:08:31]A youth of gentle nature, merry and pleasant was John.

[00:08:35]Godly, pure in his life, midway through a virtuous journey.

[00:08:40]The shining stone seals his grave.

[00:08:47]The poet who composed this eulogy was an eccentric man known as William Cole.

[00:08:53]William Cole hated the Nationalist Eisteddfod.

[00:08:58]This is a cultural festival that's held annually in Wales.

[00:09:02]The festival's roots are medieval, and it was revitalized in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Now, William Cole hated this festival, and he would arrange a rival festival each year.

[00:09:16]And his brother-in-law actually won the main prize for poetry in the Nationalist Eisteddfod three times, which might explain why William Cole hated the festival.

[00:09:29]It is sure to set online that this was the first burial here, but it's definitely not. There's a person died in 1871.

[00:09:38]Oh, there's actually three people here.

[00:09:40]Um Thomas Pierce, and he died August 31st, 1871 at 45 years old.

[00:09:48]Also, his son John Pierce who died August 27th, 1888 at 29 years old.

[00:09:57]And his widow, Ellen, and she Well, she also died in August.

[00:10:05]August 4th, 18 90 1890 or 1890 or 1895, I'm not sure. And she was 58 years old.

[00:10:20]So, all three of them died in August as well as John Robert here.

[00:10:33]In fond remembrance of Robert Williams, who died February 12th, 1875 at 72 years old.

[00:10:44]Stone headstone here.

[00:10:52]It's usually slate headstones in this area.

[00:10:57]And they've given you a clue which part of Wales I'm in now.

[00:11:02]And this is actually the grave of the person who established the church or the chapel.

[00:11:08]John Robert was born August 15th, 1784.

[00:11:15]Died January 30th, 1879 at 95 years old.

[00:11:23]So, he was buried right next to the chapel that he established.

[00:11:38]I'm not sure what this is.

[00:11:40]Well, I guess it must be the remains of a grave anyway, a gravestone.

[00:11:49]There was one person who was buried here who was later exhumed and buried further down the valley.

[00:11:57]And he was actually the person who who granted this land for so that the chapel could be built.

[00:12:07]So, it might be the remains of his grave, but I'm not certain.

[00:12:21]In memory of William Pierce, so there was a Pierce down there as well, so the same family probably.

[00:12:29]Dear child of Oh, can't make that out, but he died February 6th, 1877 at 4 months old.

[00:12:49]Well, look at this.

[00:12:51]The headstone's kind of split and nature is taking over.

[00:13:01]Let's go to the other side.

[00:13:07]In fond remembrance of Grace Rowlands, wife of David Rowlands, who died September 27th, 1876 at 53 years old.

[00:13:21]So, it's a happy with the weather conditions.

[00:13:25]It might have been better to come here early in the morning when the sun would have been behind me.

[00:13:43]Nice simple headstone here just with the initials J.T. on it.

[00:13:57]There must be a number of unmarked graves here.

[00:14:00]Just the remains of a grave here.

[00:14:06]Another one there possibly.

[00:14:15]There's a grave here, Jane Edwards, wife of Edward Edwards, died December 18th at 63 years old in the year 1877.

[00:14:35]Again, nature is taking over here.

[00:14:50]As you can see there, used to be a gate here.

[00:15:17]This is one of the best places I've been to since I've been making these kind of videos.

[00:15:25]I'll probably come back here sometime, maybe in the winter.

[00:15:34]This tree looks pretty old.

[00:15:37]I'm guessing it was probably here when the chapel was constructed.

[00:15:42]Although, it must have been a very small tree back then.

[00:15:52]You probably think I'm a bit of a bastard not telling you where this place is.

[00:16:00]There's at least another hour till sunset, but the sun's just gone behind the mountain now.

[00:16:11]There's a photograph of the chapel when it was still intact.

[00:16:15]It still had its roof and its windows.

[00:16:19]And it was taken roughly where I'm standing now.

[00:16:40]The community that the chapel served must have been quite spread out.

[00:16:46]You see one cottage down there, the ruins of a cottage.

[00:16:52]>> [crying] >> Please subscribe to the channel. It's free to do so.

[00:17:22]And if anybody's interested, I got a channel membership now.

[00:17:28]And there's some members only videos on there.

[00:17:37]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]