Community campaign to turn disused chapel into heritage centre and housing

Another community-led campaign has achieved the purchase of a closed chapel for local benefit.

Brynmyrnach Chapel in Hermon village, North Pembrokeshire was built in 1888 and closed its doors on Sunday, the 25th of September 2022 after 134 years of service.

The community volunteers in Hermon and surrounding areas have secured the purchase of the old chapel
following two years of fundraising and land registration hurdles, and it is soon set to reopen as a community hub.

Local issues

The chapel, located in the centre of the village, could be converted into a new heritage centre and pop-up cafe, with 2-bedroom flats on the first floor intended to address housing issues facing local young people.

The project to purchase the chapel for community use attracted 20 local investors who raised the £40,000 asking price.

Additionally, the team have recently secured funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund administered by Pembrokeshire County Council. The project’s members are eager to ensure full community engagement, ownership and control of the initiative that will celebrate the agricultural, industrial, Welsh language and cultural heritage of Hermon and the parish of Llanfyrnach.

The idea was initially proposed at a public meeting by Cris Tomos. Cris explained: “The new Heritage and Housing Trust is a Community Benefit Society and limited company. Local people are the shareholders in this cooperative housing venture that will have a local letting policy allowing affordable housing for local families and couples.

“This could be a blueprint for other communities to take on the chapels and churches that are closing”

Ideas

Cris concluded: “People in the village have already come up with additional ideas of a pop-up cafe and even a community bread oven to bake local produce.”

The community social enterprise that purchased the chapel is called CarTrefUn Ltd. The team will be hosting a public meeting on Wednesday, the 13th August 2025, at 6pm in Brynmyrnach chapel, followed by refreshment and a presentation at Canolfan Hermon, the village hall.

More details about the event are available on the project’s Facebook page, Cartrefun. Anyone wishing to know more can attend and note down ideas for preserving the artefacts and developing the site as a sustainable self-funding enterprise.

To find out more about joining the committee to help develop the heritage and housing elements, visit Catrefun’s site here, email [email protected] or call: 01239 831968.