Todays blog is a small one. I have a quick cluster of little places to write about before I get to something big over on my travel blog. If you've been following that, I just did a spaceship.
Locally, I feel like I've been over-grazing the pasture somewhat, but one thing I can always count on is a lonely derelict chapel.
But on this particular day, I couldn't even get that! When I got to this one, I found that it was already in the process of being renovated. But it was open, so I decided to check it out anyway.
Derelict chapels are scattered all over the rural parts of the country. In the days of old, before motorised transport connected us all, a cute rural chapel would be the communal hub for a multitude of hamlets and farms. It served a purpose in those simpler times. It wasn't just about worshiping Daddy G upstairs. For many churchgoers it was their social life.
But times change, and the cute little rural chapels of yesteryear have largely died out. This ones closure is a little sadder than most, purely because it has a graveyard attached. People are interred here, and it's sad to see their final resting places so neglected. Of course, we see that even at active churches, but it's sad nonetheless.
I always like to take a moment in graveyards, and ponder the stories of the people here. All that's left of these people is a name on a rock, but they were still real people with aspirations, dreams, and struggles of their own. I wish I had the time and resources to tell all of their stories.
The chapel was founded in 1862, and is a Methodist chapel. I'm no expert on all of the numerous denominations of Christianity. I think having such a fragmented religion kinda defeats the point of there being One True God. I don't actually know what makes Methodists different from any other type of Christianity. From what I can tell, there was a couple of chaps named Charles and John Wesley in the 1700s who had such a methodical approach to religion that their students referred to it as methodism.
But that sounds awfully vague. They were big on social progress, including the abolition of slavery, and allowing female preachers, but that doesn't seem like something that would be exclusive to one denomination. Although I can see it being unpopular with some of the more cuntish less-progressive churches. Perhaps they were fairly unique in the 1700s.
Let's just slip inside and check this place out.
I've spoken disparagingly of the one true God before. All of them.
But that's not to say I'm lacking in a spiritual side. I'm actually a pretty deep thinker when it comes to the nature of reality and all that. When we really think about it, humans are just lumps of atoms that woke up and decided that they existed. The human brain is about three lbs of meat, with a texture similar to tofu, made of ordinary atoms like Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen, all of which can be found in a loaf of bread. And yet here we are, not just existing but knowing we exist. I don't think bread does that. At least, I hope it doesn't.
But all this pondering doesn't really draw me to any particular religion. Given that humanity existed for thousands of years before all of them were founded, I think it's very unlikely that anyone got it right.
But even so, I respect chapels and churches as places of quiet reflection, comfort, and peace.
This chapel is very clean, and nothing like the photos I'd seen online, such is a consequence of getting here after renovation has started. The pews don't quite look like they belong here, and have likely replaced the original ones. The little raised platforms that they're sitting on definitely look new too.
But it's still kinda nice. Just... inauthentic. I'd like it more if it looked as old as it is.
The chapel closed in 1971, lasting just over a century, and yet there's actually very little historic information on it. It pops up in records from 1901, but only because someone had dumped fifty tons of stone on the road outside and nobody knew what to do about it.
It's mentioned again in 1964 as a place for people to meet prior to going on a hunt. Gotta love the irony of meeting at a place that should celebrate life just to then go out and snuff it out.
The pulpit has a fresh coat of paint, and behind it is a whole collection of pre-renovation relics that haven't been dealt with yet. This is the good shit. Now I feel like I'm urbexing.
This is cool. These might have been here since the chapel closed in 1971.
Despite the fact that the chapel closed and fell into disrepair, it seems that burials continued to happen in the graveyard outside. The most recent burial that I've found online was a man named John Edwards in 1999, but there are probably more since then.
And that's good. Abandoned graveyards are sadder than abandoned chapels.
In 2001 a meeting was held to discuss the future of the chapel, which had fallen into dereliction. This meeting is presumably what led to its relatively recent renovation, albeit slowly.
And since my visit, it's become something of a communal creative hub. It's held art exhibitions and creative writing workshops, and I absolutely love that! I think that's a perfect use for a chapel, serving a community in a new way that gets young people actually engaging in activities. This is what we need more of.
I've found quite a lot of artwork online, by young people, that depicts the chapel itself. I'll include a few pieces here.
(Image credit: Ann Baker)
(image credit: Peter Wright)
(Image credit: Priscilla Smith)
At least I think this is the work of young people. If anyone here is eighty, just take the compliment.
And that's pretty much all I've got to say on Black Mountain Chapel. It's cute, but not that exciting from an urbex perspective. I guess if it's been renovated then it isn't anything from an urbex perspective anymore. I wish I'd seen the place when it was derelict, but I am glad it's been given another chance. Hopefully it will continue to go from strength to strength.
I've got a couple of small blogs to do before I do something huge and exciting on the travel blog. In the meantime, the best way to stay updated with my blogs is to follow my social media.
I'm active on Facebook. Facebook has actually admitted to placing more algorithmic value in the anger reaction, generating engagement through outrage by showing you the things that make you angry. They're making you miserable on purpose. So to make sure you actually see my posts, and to screw them over a bit, anger react my blog posts and tell me that I've ruined your day.
But the likes of Bluesky, Vero and Cara are versions of what Twitter and Instagram should be, with the latter two being for artists and photographers. On these sites, people actually see who they choose to follow, so follow me there!
Thanks for reading!
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