Horeb Baptist Chapel is located at the edge of the small village of Five Roads north of Llanelli. Five Roads is a very English name for somewhere so far into Wales however it is what it says on the tin, it's a junction of five roads with the village built up around it! The chapel was first built in 1832, and rebuilt for a larger congregation in 1868, and is listed at Grade II with the main reason for listing being the almost totally intact and complete interior features and details. It was built in the Simple Round-Headed style with a Gable entry much like many other chapels of the era, and was built using local sandstone and white lime mortar. It closed it's doors in 2005 and has remained empty ever since, although there was some work done by the owners to tidy up the attached graveyard as it was so overgrown at one point, however it appears to be growing into a jungle again sadly.
The first thing I noticed once through the gate was that the front exterior wall is bowing, a lot. It's got a very alarming curvature in the middle where I assume some degree of settling or subsidence has taken place. Whether this is historical or not I don't know, but it wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me that's for sure. Once inside after a quick clamber there laid out before us was an almost totally intact chapel, it appears that the only thing which has been removed is the clock which once sat in the middle of the balcony, and the damage inside is limited to the usual pigeon crap but even that isn't too bad considering it's been empty for fifteen years now. I personally love shooting chapels, especially ones in Wales as there is such an abundance of them and they are all different in some way, and I really need to spend more time over the border as the opportunities are endless.
Thanks for looking
The first thing I noticed once through the gate was that the front exterior wall is bowing, a lot. It's got a very alarming curvature in the middle where I assume some degree of settling or subsidence has taken place. Whether this is historical or not I don't know, but it wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me that's for sure. Once inside after a quick clamber there laid out before us was an almost totally intact chapel, it appears that the only thing which has been removed is the clock which once sat in the middle of the balcony, and the damage inside is limited to the usual pigeon crap but even that isn't too bad considering it's been empty for fifteen years now. I personally love shooting chapels, especially ones in Wales as there is such an abundance of them and they are all different in some way, and I really need to spend more time over the border as the opportunities are endless.
Thanks for looking
