VENTURING into the district of the Barry and District this week we take a look at a place of religion at Llancarfan.

Llancarfan is very much a place of early Christianity into the end of the Roman era, up until the modern age. We look at the Llancarfan Methodist Chapel; and we thank my intrepid explorer Kate Phillips for the image. The chapel is located along the western side of the main south/north road that runs through the village of Llancarfan and immediately north west of the Public House.

What Karl-James Langford makes a Methodist chapel of interest? The chapel is actually an Ebenezer Wesleyan Methodist nonconformist. Wesleyan refers to the preacher John Wesley from Lincolnshire who lived from 1703 to 1791, who spread a revived word of the lord to a largely Protestant England and Wales. Wesley would preach throughout the land, and that included Llancarfan in the 1770s; dedicating his life to the Methodist cause. His well-attended and enthusiastic delivery of sermons in the open usually at the village preaching cross, revived the word of the Lord. The humble word Ebenezer; being the other name for this week's chapel, refers in Hebrew translated to mean 'a stone of help.'

The original Ebenezer Wesleyan Methodist chapel was probably made of wood, and that was in 1814. Then we see with the popular revival of the village of Llancarfan population we see a stone structure in 1835 thanks to William Griffith (junior). It became a notable hub for Methodism in the Barry and District by 1861, when alongside three other chapels and one church, the population of 688 was well served by the word of the Lord.

By 1891, our Methodist chapel was to see a rebuild, so was the wealth of the movement. An architect from Cardiff was engaged; namely J. P. Powell, the style was of simplistic nature, and likened to a Gothic style. I feel very American Methodist in style. Sadly, however the days of the Llancarfan Methodist movement were numbered by the 1990s. But we would not see the chapel lost though, by 2010 the chapel had a new lease of life as a private house.

More from the Barry and District next week. I also appreciate the encouraging e-mails I receive about my column thanks.