Soar-y-mynydd or Soar y mynydd is a Calvinist Methodist chapel near the eastern extremity of the large parish of

Llanddewi Brefi Llanddewi Brefi () is a village, parish and Community (Wales), community of approximately 500 people in Ceredigion, Wales. The village is notable for the famous Synod of Brefi held here in the sixth century. A number of miraculous events are sa ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...

. It is claimed to be the remotest chapel in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The name means "Zoar of the mountain", Zoar being the place where Lot found refuge during the destruction of

Sodom and Gomorrah In the Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah () were two cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah are repeatedly invoked throughout the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical texts, and the New Testament as symbols of sin, di ...

Location

Soar-y-mynydd stands in the valley of the river Camddwr in the

Cambrian Mountains The Cambrian Mountains (, in a narrower sense: ''Elenydd'') are a series of mountain ranges in Wales. The term ''Cambrian Mountains'' used to apply to most of the upland of Wales, and comes from the country's Latin name . Since the 1950s, it ...

, near the eastern border of Ceredigion (National Grid Reference SN 7847 5328). It is some eight miles south-east of

Tregaron Tregaron ( "town of St Caron") is an ancient market town in Ceredigion, Wales. It is sited astride the River Brenig, a tributary of the River Teifi, and is north-east of Lampeter. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census, the po ...

on the road to

Llyn Brianne Llyn Brianne is a man-made reservoir in the headwaters of the River Towy in Wales. Construction The reservoir was constructed by Wimpey Construction in the late 1960s and early 1970s in order to regulate the flow in the Towy to support larg ...

Calvinistic Methodists

The Calvinistic Methodists are a Welsh Protestant revivalist movement forming the

Presbyterian Church of Wales The Presbyterian Church of Wales (), also known as the Calvinistic Methodist Church (), is a denomination of Protestant Christianity based in Wales. The Calvinistic Methodist movement has its origins in the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival ...

. They trace their origins to the evangelism and preaching of

George Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican minister and preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke Coll ...

and especially

Howell Harris Howell Harris (; 23 January 1714 – 21 July 1773) was a Calvinistic Methodists, Calvinistic Methodist evangelist. He was one of the main leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century, along with Daniel Rowland (preacher), Daniel Ro ...

in the late 1730s and 1740s. They formed a separate body from the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and from other Methodists after 1821, when their Rules of Discipline were published, followed in 1823 by their Confession of Faith, which enshrined a moderate evangelical

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

. The working language of the Calvinistic Methodists has always been Welsh, and the services at Soar-y-mynydd are held in Welsh.

History

The chapel was built in 1822, immediately following the independence of the Calvinistic Methodists. The prime mover was Rev. Ebenezer Richard, minister at Tregaron and father of peace campaigner

Henry Richard Henry Richard (3 April 1812 – 20 August 1888) was a Congregational minister and Wales, Welsh Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament between 1868–1888. Richard was an advocate of peace and international arbitration, ...

, with his trustees, and the land was provided by John Jones, the then farmer at Nant-llwyd lower down the valley of the river Camddwr. It served the people of the sheep farms for several miles round about. The congregation had fallen to 2 in 1968 and Soar was threatened with closure, but since 1973 its status has been secured. Since its formal reopening in that year, publicity has meant that some well-attended summer services with visiting preachers are now held on the last Sunday in August. The chapel also now attracts artistic attention; it was painted for example by Ogwyn Davies in 1993, and has featured in poems for example by

Harri Webb Harri Webb (7 September 1920 – 31 December 1994) was a Welsh poetry, Welsh poet, Welsh nationalism, Welsh nationalist, journalist and librarian. Early life Harri Webb was born on 7 September 1920 in Swansea, at 45 Tŷ Coch Road in Sketty, but ...

and Iwan Llwyd. The chapel closed for two years during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

but reopened for services in May 2022.

Architecture and environment

Soar-y-mynydd is a simple

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

grade II*-listed building made of local rubble stone collected from riverbeds and ruined farmsteads in the area. It is whitewashed on the outside. It consists of a traditional rectangular side-wall façade chapel at the northern end, attached to a small two-storey house with two chimney-stacks on the ridge, under a single

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof; the house is now derelict. The chapel is entered on the longer east side through two pairs of doors, and the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

is located between the two doorways. A prominent feature is the painted scroll above the pulpit with the text "Duw cariad yw", i.e. 'God is love' (First Epistle of John 4:8 and 4:16), dating from 1911. The local school met in the chapel-house until the 1940s. The chapel enclosure is walled in stone and skirted by mature trees. On the east side of the building is a graveyard, the oldest apparent stone being from 1856. The most conspicuous is the most recent (2001), that of

Professor John Griffiths Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

, a prominent London cancer surgeon.

Sources and literature

Cadw (1997) Listed buildings detail report, records 18943 (building) and 18950 (outbuilding and wall). Evans, Dyfed (1955) Soar y Mynydd. ''Y Cymro'', 8 September 1955. Evans, John (1904) ''Hanes Methodistiaeth rhan ddeheuol Sir Aberteifi, 1735–1900.'' Dolgellau: E. W. Evans. Gruffydd, William John, pseud. 'Elerydd', ed. (1994) ''Tua Soar. Capel Soar y Mynydd.'' rd edition (or printing) 1997. Jones, Evan (1979) ''Cymdogaeth Soar-y-mynydd.'' Swansea/Abertawe: Christopher Davies (Cyfres cynefin). Jones, Huw, ed. Lyn Ebenezer (2007) ''Bugail olaf y Cwm.'' Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. Perrin, Jim (2008) Country diary: Soar y Mynydd. ''The Guardian'', 26 July 2008. Richards, E. E. (Lynne) (2004) Soar y Mynydd. ''Cardiganshire Family History Society Journal'' 3.9 (October), 202–205.

References

External links

General: * Coates, Richard (2017) Soar-y-mynydd, Ceredigion. University of the West of England Repositor

* Hicks, Gareth (2007) Ceredigion chapels database: Llanddewi Brefi

* Rees, Ben (2010) Soar-y-Mynydd. Cymanfa’r Sul 2010. Web-page of Cymdeithas Dydd yr Arglwydd yng Nghymru

* Pike, David E. (2011) Soar-y-Mynydd: revival at the remotest chapel in Wales

* Photos of Soar-y-mynydd and the surrounding area today

{{Authority control Methodist churches in Wales Grade II* listed churches in Ceredigion Chapels in Ceredigion