Bethesda Presbyterian Chapel

Prominently sited on the north side of the Green at Burry Green.

Lady Diana Barham, whose family were in the same Calvinistic circle as George Whitefield and Selena, Lady Huntington, came to Gower in 1813 and perceived the need for missionary activity here. She discovered a Calvinistic society (active from at least 1809) about to erect a small meeting house at Burry Green, and offered to pay for the erection of a larger chapel with manse. The chapel was opened in 1814. The earliest ministers at Burry Green were of Lady Huntington's Connexion, sent in rotation. Lady Barham requested the Calvinistic Methodist Association to send a permanent minister to serve in Gower. In 1821 there was a break between Lady Barham and the Calvinistic Methodist Association, as she changed allegiance to the Independents. After her death in 1823, her son, Lord Barham, gave his patronage to William Griffiths (who had been dismissed by Lady Barham, but ordained in 1824) as Calvinistic Methodist minister at Burry Green. Burry Green was thereafter the 'central home' of Calvinistic Methodism in Gower, where the Sacraments were administered and new members received. William Griffiths remained minister here until his death in 1861. In 1855 he persuaded Lord Barham (who had contemplated giving Bethesda to the Anglican church, as a chapel-of-ease) to give it to the Calvinistic Methodists. Griffiths came to be called 'the father of Calvinistic Methodism in Gower' and 'the Apostle of Gower'. The manse and the enclosing wall of the forecourt were all built at the same time as the chapel. It is thought that the original layout of the chapel included a table and Communion rails in the position of the present pulpit, with a pulpit then situated against the south wall near to the east corner. The bow-fronted balcony is plainly original, and relates to a pulpit against the south wall. The little annexe or private pew at the north-east corner of the chapel, known as Lady Barham's room, was probably built in 1814, when Lady Barham came to live at Fairy Hill nearby. This room had a door the top half of which could be opened to enable her to take part in the service. It is said she would close it if the sermon was too long. The bow-fronted gallery is original, but the west gallery may be an early addition. Towards the end of the C19 the interior layout was altered, with a new pulpit and set fawr. The space beneath the west gallery has been screened off as a vestry. The front porch was probably a late addition; a C19 drawing displayed in the vestry shows the porch with a flat roof.