Friends Meeting House
Dolobran, Powys
Hidden among trees, and reached by track and footpath, this tiny meeting house is hard to find and reach.
Between 1800 and 1805 Ann Griffiths, the famous hymn writer, attended the chapel at Pontrobert, and it was John’s wife, Ruth, who remembered Ann’s hymns for her husband to write down after her death. John and Ruth Hughes are buried in the graveyard opposite the chapel.
The Chapel was originally built in 1800 as a meeting place for a circulating Calvinist Methodist school. John Hughes, the famed preacher and hymn writer, taught in the school before his ordination in 1814 and subsequently served there as minister until his death in 1854. Following his death the congregation dwindled, until in 1865 the chapel was replaced by Capel Newydd (NPRN 11385). The building was eventually sold and converted into a wheelwright's workshop, but a clause in the contract protected Reverend Hughes pulpit and sundries from destruction.
During the 1984-95 funds were raised to restore the chapel and house. The chapel has been reopened as a non denominational Centre for Christian Unity and Renewal and the cottage is occupied by the custodian. The restored pulpit of John Hughes is sited between the rear long wall windows.