Swansea chapel sale prompts fear about graveyard access

Concern has been raised about access to a graveyard after the land and the cemetery chapel were put up for sale.

Bethel chapel in Sketty, Swansea, dates from 1870, but chapel trustees said dwindling congregations forced them to sell.

Families whose loved ones are buried said they want access and for the site to be maintained after the sale.

Because the building is listed, Cadw said the local planning authority was responsible.

"We don't know anything about access, and also how will the cemetery be maintained," said Dr Barbara Morris, chairwoman of a committee of about 50 people calling for access.

She said at the first meeting of the group there were strong feelings, and described members as "very upset and emotional".

"Quite a few have three generations of their families here and come every week to tend the graves."

Rob Orchard is one of those whose ancestors are buried in the graveyard at Bethel.

He said they "understand the problem of the trustees with the falling congregation and building defects" and why they say they have to sell.

"What we are mainly concerned about is what happens to this massive graveyard," said Mr Orchard.

"Four generations of my family and my mother's family are buried here, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents," he added.

The chapel trustees in a statement said "after long, difficult and intense discussions" they had decided to sell the chapel buildings and graveyard.

"We are facing a dwindling and ageing congregation , and as a result had to make this extremely difficult decision," the trustees said.

Geoffrey Evans, a regular visitor to his family graves at Bethel, admitted feeling very emotional about the situation. His father is among those buried there.

"The graveyard means an awful lot to me," he said. "It's been part of our family for generations. It's emotive. It's poignant. It's everything to me.

"I'm here back and forth at anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas and I put flowers on the graves and remember the families.

"There's lots of memories attached to here," he added. "I'd like us to be able to continue to have access and be able to visit indefinitely.

"The unknowing is the main thing for me. I wish we just knew what was going to happen to it."

Campaigners said Bethel chapel graveyard is home to a number of graves of historic importance.

Welsh missionary Griffith John is buried there. He went to China in 1855 and stayed for over 50 years and founded the Union Hospital in Wuhan province.

It is also the site of the grave of one of the heroes of Rorke's Drift.

Pte James Owen was one 150 British soldiers who successfully defended a supply depot and hospital in South Africa against thousands of Zulu warriors.

He was played in the 1964 movie Zulu by singer Ivor Emmanuel.

A spokesperson for Cadw, the Welsh government agency that works to protect historic buildings and structures, said: "When chapels become redundant, the future of any graveyards will depend on the arrangements made by individual congregations or denominations.

"Where a graveyard forms part of the setting of a listed building, this will be a consideration for the local planning authority in the planning and listed building consent process."