ABSTRACT
In parts of rural Wales, there was already seating capacity exceeding local populations in 1851. Yet an examination of dedication inscriptions on rural chapels in both areas soon reveals that building continued in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, one rural area that does allow very detailed longitudinal analysis is Glan-llyn. This highly Welsh-speaking, remote, rural area, bordering on the large lake of Bala in the heart of Meirionnydd, for once makes an extended case study possible. 'Chapel and Community in Glan-llyn, Merioneth' was the title of an unusual study made in about 1950 by Trefor M. Owen. Glan-llyn is mostly comprised of two thinly populated parishes, Llanuwchllyn and Llangywer. From 1745 Llanuwchllyn had its own Independent minister and it was he who built Hen Gapel in 1746, albeit that this was some distance from the village. The Primitive Baptists had a single chapel seating 132 at Llanuwchllyn and a resident minister.
