Victorian Builth - Church and chapel

Builth and district
Church and chapel

	1-Rebuilding and restoration
	The Victorian period brought changes in religion to the whole country. In the towns at least practically everybody attended a church or chapel. It some parts of the more remote parts of the countryside this may not have been so, but every parish church had its congregation and there are tiny chapels to be found in the most remote spot.

	For the Church of England in Wales the Victorian period saw a great deal of rebuilding or restoring of old parish churches. In the countryside particularly many parish churches had become run down and dilapidated and looked more like farm buildings. During the Victorian period a great many of these were rebuilt by Victorian architects who designed them to fit in with the fashions of the time. Sometimes this means there is very little left of the ancient church that stood there before it was restored. The picture above shows the old church at Llanafan Fechan before it was rebuilt in 1866. With tiny windows and a ramshackled roof it must have been a dark and damp place to worship. The picture above left shows the new church at Llanafan Fechan.
	As the number of visitors to Builth Wells rose in the 1870s, the parish church there was restored and enlarged. The architect was John Norton and his new church would seat 450 people. It cost £3,700 and Thomas Thomas the owner of Pencerrig gave £1000 towards it. Llanelwedd, Crickadarn and Gwenddwr churches were also rebuilt in Victorian times. .