The Lost Cottages - Capel Soar and Nearby Building, Caerhun Parish

Not technically a 'lost cottage,' but intimately connected with the houses I've been exploring, Soar Independent Chapel sits up on the side of Waen Bryn Gwenith above Llanbedr y Cennin and Dolgarrog, at a height of 350 metres above sea level. There were quite a number of houses up here on the hillside, relatively close to the chapel, but now these uplands are virtually deserted, with only a few farms still inhabited. With changes in farming methods and lifestyles most people have moved down into the valley, where conditions are less harsh, while the fervour of non-conformist Christianity has also cooled, along with adherence to its more traditional branches.

According to Coflein, the chapel was built in 1828, and later modified in 1867. The place is now demolished down to a level of about four feet, with the rubble filling the remaining walls to the top, so little can be found out about the inside of the place. I didn't see any slates around, so perhaps these were taken to be reused, or have ended up in the inside of the building under the rubble. The roof may have collapsed a considerable time before the building was demolished.

 

The chapel is at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7515 6748.

A footpath leads down past the chapel, although the 'gateway' is a little awkward.

Very little remains of the chapel after it was demolished. It would be interesting to see if the rubble inside has protected anything of the floor and lower walls. Apparently a neighbour from nearby Pontwgan was employed to demolish the place in the 1990s, in order to make the building safe, by National Power.

The front of the chapel has no render on it, and is just bare stone. I would guess it used to be rendered and the render has fallen off over time.

Radiating around the chapel are the houses of Rowlyn Isaf and Uchaf, Bont Newydd and Pont Newydd, Ffrith Ddu, Bryn Gwenith, Fachell, and Pwll Du, with a few other more outlying buildings, so there could have been a sizeable congregation. A track leads, on the 1888-1913 map, from Bryn Gwenith straight up to the chapel, as does one from Rowlyn Isaf. Only Rowlyn Uchaf is still inhabited today.

The interior of the chapel, full of stone. Unfortunately the low winter sun caused a lot of glare in the photographs. 

A little walled enclosure surrounds the chapel, which sits on a raised plinth. Some parts of the wall are still a little higher than the top of the plinth.

Where the chapel meets the field wall. This building really is just standing in an upland sheep field, in the ffridd land, just before the mountain begins. This end section, with blocked up doorway, used to be a small house. The doorways were unblocked not long before the place was demolished, so perhaps they were carefully blocked up to the demolished height at the time.

This photo taken not long before the chapel was demolished shows the house on the end of the building. It must have been a very small dwelling.

At first I thought the front of the chapel had been heavily whitewashed, but I think this is lichen. I assume the front of the building would have been rendered originally, since the other walls are rendered.

The edges of the white patches show natural growth. I've rarely seen lichen so white and so extensive.

 

I don't know the date of this photograph, sent to me by someone who lives nearby, but it shows the chapel intact, still with its windows, although a couple of panes seem to have been broken in the attached house. Perhaps the chimney served both the house and the chapel, for domestic use in the house and to keep the chill off the chapel when it was being used. The building doesn't seem to have been painted or whitewashed at all, and only rather roughly rendered.

The house attached to the chapel doesn't show occupation before 1871, and it could be that the house was added in 1867, when Coflein mentions modifications being made to the chapel. Interestingly, in 1871 the place was lived in by John Williams, 34, a miller, and his wife Debora, 24, with children Jane, 9, and Robert, 7. John was born in Abergele, his wife in Caerhun, and the children in Dolwyddelan. Was John Williams working at the nearby mill of Onen Ebryd, which only had a farmer living there at the time? Incidentally, Debora seems rather young to have a child of nine, so perhaps the children belonged to a deceased former wife, or her age is wrong.

In 1881, 1891, and 1901 the place was uninhabited on the night of the census, although it could have been lived in between those times. In 1911 it was lived in again, by Richard Roberts, 28, a labourer at the Aluminium Works in Dolgarrog, his wife Mary Catherine, 28, and their daughter Mary Ellen, listed as age three. The couple had been married for less than a year. Richard was born in Caerhun, but his wife and daughter were both born in Llansanffraid (presumably Glan Conwy), Denbighshire. Both parents are bilingual. The census states that there are three rooms in the house.

A blocked up doorway on the east face of the northern end of the chapel, which seems to be a lobby or anteroom. The aerial view of the place shows the chapel to be symmetrical, with this narrower lobby at the centre of the north end. The door can be seen in the photo above.

The ruined corner of this little lobby shows the very messy state of the inside of the walls. They seem to be faced with big stones but filled with rubble. 

The inside of this lobby still has plaster on the walls. 

Looking over the rubble of the ruin from beside the lobby area. 

The area behind the chapel, with the field wall to the right. For some reason this part is fenced off. 

It must have been a test of faith getting up to the chapel on wet or freezing winter days, but the place certainly had wonderful views. This is looking northwards towards Pen y Gaer and the sea. 

 

Testimony by John Owen in the 1930s points to a thriving little place of worship in former years:

 

CAU Y CAPELI.

    Trwy yr ymfudo parhaus o'r 'cymoedd hyn ar hyd y blynyddoedd diwethaf, mae tri o gapelau wedi gorfod cael eu cau i ddiffyg poblogaeth, sef Capel Nant Brwynog, perthynol i'r Annibynwyr, yr hwn a godwyd mewn lle cyfleus, yn y dyddiau gynt, ar gwrr uchaf y nant; Capel Ardda, drachefn perthynol ar y dechrau i'r Methodistiaid "Calfinaidd, ac yn perthyn i ofalaeth Trefriw Codwyd y capel hwn ar ochr bellaf Ardda, yn ymyl Pen yr Allt Inigo. Bu yn cael ei gario ymlaen am beth amser gan y Methodistiaid a'r Annibynwyr gyda'i gilydd. Nid oes yr un gwasanaeth yn cael ei gynnal yno ers llawer o amser. Capel Soar eto, perthynol i'r Annibynwyr, a than ofalaeth yr eglwys yr Salem, Llanbedr. Dyma eglwys a fu yn flodeuog iawn am lawer o flynyddoedd.
    Mae y capel wedi ei adeiladu, gyda thy yn ei ymyl, mewn lle amlwg ar y bryn uwchlaw Rowlyn Isa;- Nid oes ond ychydig flynyddoedder pan yr aeth y boblogaeth yn rhy fach i allu cario gwasanaeth ymlaen yno. Ar un adeg bu yr eglwys fach yma yn ddigon cefnog i gynnal eisteddfod fawr lwyddiannus am ddwy flynedd yn olynol Codasant, babell eang yn y cae o dan y capel, a llwyddasant I gael corau ac amryw o gantorion enwog yno i gystadlu, yn ogystal a llawer o ymgeiswyr yr adrannau llen. Cawsant yr enwog Danymarian yno i feirniadu yn un o'r eisteddfodau, a D. Emlyn Evans y flwyddyn ddilynol.

 

CHAPEL CLOSURE

    Through the continuous emigration from these valleys over recent years, three chapels have been forced to close due to a declining population; Capel Nant Brwynog, which was built in a convenient place for the Independents in former days on the upper reaches of the valley; Capel Ardda, again originally belonging to the Calvinistic Methodists, and belonging to the pastorate of Trefriw. This chapel was built on the far side of Ardda, near Pen yr Allt Inigo. It was carried on for some time by the Methodists and the Congregationalists together. No service has been held there for a long time. Capel Soar, again belonging to the Independents, and in the care of the church at Salem, Llanbedr. This is a church that flourished for many years.
    The chapel was built, with a house next to it, in a prominent position on the hill above Rowlyn Isa. It is only a few years since the population became too small to carry on a service there. At one time this small church was affluent enough to hold a large successful eisteddfod for two years in a row. They built a large tent in the field under the chapel, and they had choirs and various famous singers there to compete, as well as many candidates of the curtain sections. They had the famous Danymarian there to adjudicate at one of the eisteddfodau, and D. Emlyn Evans the following year.

The view east across the valley. Sunrise would be beautiful here.

The view north, towards the hills further up the valley. 

Leaving the chapel behind, from here it doesn't look more than a stone wall. 

We walked on down the hill, north east towards Rowlyn Isaf, in search of another small building marked on the map. 

Two fields away from the chapel is this little ruined building. I don't know the purpose of it. It's just a little closer to the farm of Rowlyn Isaf than it is to the chapel, at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7543 6770.

The place is very ruined but still has some timbers lying on the ground. 

The sheep were fascinated, I think hoping to be fed, and played a game of 'What's the Time, Mr Wolf?' following every time I walked and stopping whenever I turned around.

A lot of rubble lies at this southern end, mostly made up of unworked stones.

I think there may be two doorways, one to the right and one to the left, but I would have to revisit the site to be sure. This two doorway arrangement seems typical of a lot of farm outbuildings. The stonework looks 19th century or later.

Scattered slates are evidence that the place once had a slate roof.

More slates, which are fairly small, unlike the more modern, larger and more regular ones.

A single roof ridge tile, with no maker's mark on it.

The surviving doorway into the building, with hungry sheep looking through from behind. The building seems to be built largely of faced stone at the front.

A lot of render still remains around the stones.

There's a lot of roof timber inside the building, although this is rotting away.

Inside the building, looking towards the south end where there might have been another door.

The back of the building is much more ruined, with the stones looking less worked.

The north west corner of the structure.

The wall is very eroded at this north end.

The render on the doorway shows a line where the frame might have sat, and this big nail near the bottom which may have held the frame.

The right side of the doorway shows the same pattern.

This north-east corner is very ruined.

Heading away from the building and down towards Rowlyn Isaf. The sheep followed me all the way to the road.

The Lost Cottages - Llwyn Onn, Llanbedr y Cennin Parish

Llwyn Onn is a very ruined but sheltered little place in a quiet valley by the Afon Dulyn, the river that runs from the dark, mysterious Llyn (Lake) Dulyn down to the Afon Conwy in the main valley below. Although the house is at 230 metres above sea level, when this place was inhabited the slopes would have been a little more lively. There are still two inhabited houses, Rowlyn Ucha and Rowlyn Isa, nearby on the other side of the river, but in the past there were a handful more houses also lived in on these high slopes.

The house is roughly built of stone from the hillside, showing very little facing or dressing of the stones, which suggests to me that this is the original house in the parish records which dates back to at least 1743. It's last shown as inhabited in the census in 1861.

Llwyn refers to trees - a grove or woods. Onn refers to the ash tree in particular.

Llwyn Onn is at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH 7518 6809, next to a public footpath.

Llwyn Onn is little more than a tumble of mossy stones under the trees near the Afon Dulyn. According to the census, the house has been uninhabited at least since the 1871 survey, and wasn't mentioned in 1851, although it was occupied in 1841 and 1861.

A rough enclosure wall leads around the front of the building.

Although the house is on the slope down to the river, it sits on a small, flat step of land, with this further flat step below making a clear little field that stretches in front of the house. Perhaps in the past this was used for growing small amounts of food for the household.

The entrance through the enclosure wall into the yard by the house.

Looking north, the slope above the house is quite steep.

The house itself is extremely ruined, with the walls surviving between about two and five feet high. There don't appear to be any stand-alone outbuildings near the property.

The interior of this room, what seems to be the main cell, is nothing but a tumble of mossy stone.

In the south corner of the western wall there seems to be a small window.

Looking north west, this end of the house is also full of rubble. If there were a fireplace there's no sign of one any more. It looks as if the house roof was of slate at one point, though, which would have required some way of letting out smoke, rather than having it simply filter through the thatch.

The parish records for Llanbedr y Cennin, the closest village and church, show the house being inhabited from 1743 by Rowland Williams and his family. At one point Rowland is identified as a butcher, and for at least two years running he was also a church warden for Llanbedr y Cennin, countersigning the baptism, marriage, and burial entries at the end of each year.

Rowland was married to Elizabeth Jones in Caerhun church on November 17th 1740. On February 6th 1743 their first child, Mary, was baptised in the church at Llanbedr y Cennin. They went on to have at least four more children, William, October 1744, Dorothy, March 1747, John, June 1749, and William, May 1753. Their first son, William, was buried in May 1747, and mother Elizabeth Jones was buried in April 1759.

 

Rowland must have married again soon after, although there isn't an account of this either in Caerhun or Llanbedr parish records. Nevertheless, by June 1763 another son, Robert, is being baptised, and his wife is called Jane. Owen follows in June 1766, and daughter Jane is baptised in November 1770, but buried just over two years later in December 1772. His wife Jane Roberts is herself buried in March 1776.

Rowland marries yet again, because in October 1777 another daughter called Jane, by new wife Margaret, is baptised. I haven't yet found a death record for Rowland or his wife Margaret. After this flurry of births and deaths, records are rather scant, but there is an entry for the burial of Robert Parry of Llwyn Onn on November 3rd, 1833, aged 72.

Outside the back of the house, the south-western window can be seen to be very small. In early houses the windows would not have been glazed, but simply blocked with shutters as needed.

From the outside, the northern end of this western wall is just a scatter of stone.

The western side of the house has a small yard against it, and this cosy campfire has been built recently against the enclosure wall.

There are quite a few slates lying on the ground near the walls, so the building must have had a slate roof at one point. This slate measures almost fourteen inches by six and a quarter inches.

It seems likely that while Rowland Williams was living in the house the place would have been thatched with locally sourced plant materials, perhaps bracken or gorse, but by the time of the first census available, in 1841, it might have been slated.

 

There's no evidence of the occupation of the inhabitants between Rowland Williams, a butcher, and the 1841 census, where John Roberts is an agricultural labourer. The land named 'Llwynon' in the 1846 tithe maps is being used, along with three other parcels of land, by Owen Roberts of nearby Onen Ebryd. In 1841 John Roberts, born out of the county, is 25, and living with wife Mary, 30, and children Elizabeth, 5, John, 3, and Alice, 1, who were all born in the county.

 

In 1851 the place isn't mentioned, but in 1861 it seems to have come up a little in the world, being home to a farmer of 22 acres, Thomas Williams, 43, who was born in Llanllechid. His wife, Ellin, is 48, and they have four children; Thomas, 13, Catherine, 10, Margaret, 8, and Anne, 5. All were born in Llanllechid except for Anne, who was born in Llanbedr, so it's possible that they moved to Llwyn Onn between the births of Margaret and Anne. There is also one 'visitor' in the house, Griffith Williams, 3, who was born in Llanbedr. From 1871 on, though, the house is listed as uninhabited, and then not listed at all.

A rather larger slate has been used by the campfire, measuring eighteen inches by about nine and a half inches.

There is a clear join between the southern cell and the northern cell, and the northern cell wall appears to have a wall of smaller stones built up against it.

The northern cell is also quite ruined but doesn't seem to have as much stone in it as the southern. I think the doorway is blocked up in the east wall.

The south wall of the northern cell, separating the two sections of the house. I think this was probably an outbuilding and the southern cell was the house.

Some of the bracken covered enclosure walls near the building.

Either this is a blocked up window in the northern cell, or it's the blocked up door.

A final look at the ruined southern cell. It's hard to see a door into the place but I think it must have been in this eastern wall, perhaps in the centre of this photograph.

These are either large fallen stones by the house, or the base of a wall.

Standing inside the enclosure east of the house, looking through the entrance.

A rather thick piece of slate in the rubble, about an inch thick.

At the south end of the house there's a small gap between the house and the enclosure wall. Perhaps this was used as a pen.

 

A closer look at this southern wall. The house looks as if it were built on a primary layer of rather larger stones, as is often seen in these cottages.

Looking back up at the enclosure wall from below the house.

Leaving the house, we crossed the Afon Dulyn to follow the footpath up the steep slope towards Rowlyn Isa. The water was quite low today but sometimes this river can be very full. Nevertheless, this must have been a peaceful place to live on fine summer days.