Machynlleth’s Methodist congregation has bid farewell to their high street chapel as the building is put up for sale.

Capel Maengwyn was put on the market on 3 July after it was found that insurance would no longer cover the crumbling roof.

Despite the 158-year-old Grade-II listed structure being well-maintained and fairly well attended, members were unable to find the estimated £100,000 needed to repair the roof nails that were causing slates to slip.

The 34-member congregation has now moved their Sunday services to the Machynlleth and District Care Centre on Forge Road.

The chapel is billed as "a well maintained Chapel of considerable character and history"
The chapel is billed as "a well maintained chapel of considerable character and history" (Morris Marshall & Poole)

Capel Maengwyn elder John Parry, 80, said: “We’re selling the chapel because the building is in such a poor state.

“We didn’t have the finances to redo the roof, so we had no option but to put it up for sale.

“The news didn’t go down very well [with the congregation], but we’ve got no option.

“The congregation numbers have gone down, the finances aren’t there to do the upkeep, the church is getting old, and so are the members who attend.

“Young people don’t seem to be interested, so what do you do?”

The chapel is being sold along with it's large rear car park
The chapel is being sold along with it's large rear car park (Morris Marshall & Poole)

John has attended Capel Maengwyn since he was a child - his great-grandfather was a member of the chapel when it was first built in 1867.

Costs were rising for the congregation however, paying £6,000 annually for insurance on top of high heating and electricity bills, before the roof repairs forced the issue.

The General Secretary for the Presbyterian Church of Wales admitted last year that the organisation were now spending more money on buildings than on ministry.

Capel Maengwyn members now aim to use the sale money to buy a smaller space to continue worshipping - the chapel is on sale for £150,000 along with an adjacent car park and covenant restrictions.

The news comes as chapels continue to be put up for sale across the country.

Though specific numbers are difficult to find, the Welsh Religious Buildings Trust counts 6,426 chapels in Wales, with 867 being listed - a label which can cause complications and higher costs associated with upkeep.

Some estimate 25 per cent of those are now closed, with 75 per cent surviving as religious buildings in some form or another.

MOMA have made their piano, in The Tabernacle auditorium, available for piano players of all abilities to rehearse, experiment, and get used to playing on stage “without the pressure of a large audience”
The Tabernacle auditorium is used as a concert venue, owned by the Machynlleth Museum of Modern Art (MOMA Machynlleth)

Many call for the buildings to be kept for community benefit - a striking example being found in a chapel just around the corner from Capel Maengwyn, which was converted into the Tabernacle concert venue several decades ago, owned by the Machynlleth Museum of Modern Art.

Asked what he’d like to see the space used for, John said he would love to see it converted into housing.

Some have found a hobby in re-purposing chapels - like Antiques Roadshow expert Wayne Colquhoun, who took on the challenge of converting Capel Salem in nearby Corris into his own private residence and pottery studio, or Great British Pottery Throwdown judge Keith Brymer Jones, who has turned his Pwllweli chapel conversion into the TV show- Our Welsh Chapel Dream.