Our History 

The Building     

In 2018, Bethania Chapel celebrated 150 years in Leeswood, but its earliest origins go back to the 1850s. The work of itinerant Baptist preachers travelling throughout Wales and preaching the gospel resulted in many powerful and life-changing experiences. Hardened men like the miners from Leeswood and Treuddyn found their lives changed by the power and the good news of Jesus during the many Welsh revivals. It transformed people like these who wanted to take the good news they had heard into the surrounding villages. 
 
By 1861, a small Baptist fellowship had been established in Treuddyn, and Berea Chapel, which still stands but is now a private home, was built at the Ffordd-y-Llan turning for Treuddyn. Leeswood was a small, Welsh-speaking mining community at this time. A few people from Leeswood who were members at Berea began to hold house meetings in the village. In 1868, the Leeswood Baptists bought a piece of land for £44–10–0d, and Bethania opened as a Welsh Baptist Chapel in 1870. The congregation was Welsh/English speaking, but services were held in Welsh.

Precisely, the reason why a group of Welsh miners dug into their own pockets to do such an ambitious thing over 150 years ago can only be speculated upon. Evidently, their encounter with Jesus, whom they had read about in the Gospels and heard about from preachers, had been a significant and life-changing experience for them. 
 
The extension was added in the 1980s, providing a heated baptistry replaced the original below the platform and some modern amenities.

It was further refurbished in the early 1990s to provide a flexible space that utilises stackable chairs. It will seat 80-90 people. Toilet and baby-changing facilities were added, and the wooden sanctuary floor was replaced and levelled. The pews were replaced with more comfortable seating. The sanctuary is now a more airy, pleasant place.

The now-renamed Bethania Church Community is where lives are still being changed by the same "good news" message the chapel’s founders would have heard or read way back then. 

As part of its 150-year celebrations, members delivered copies of Mark’s Gospel to every household in the village.