19/04/2026
Help Us Capture the Past, Present and Future of Wales’s Chapels
Take Part in the Welsh Chapel Census 2026!
The Commission has launched a major new national census of Nonconformist chapels as part of its National Lottery Heritage Fund–supported Capeli Cymru: Preserving the Nonconformist Heritage of Wales project.
The 2026 census will provide the first comprehensive national picture for over a century of the status, use, and condition of chapels across Wales. It will gather vital information on active chapels, patterns of worship and community use, membership and attendance, and the physical condition of buildings. It will also document the fate of chapels that have closed, including those that have been repurposed, demolished, or left vacant.
Building on landmark surveys from 1851 and 1905, this work will create an essential new dataset to support heritage preservation, inform future planning, and guide the sustainable use of chapel buildings.
We need your help!
You can take part by completing one of two short online questionnaires:
• A congregational survey for members of open chapels
• A general survey to report on chapels in your area
By contributing, you will help create a vital 21st-century snapshot of Wales’s chapel heritage.
Find out more and take part here: https://zurl.co/q6RtX
We encourage you to share what you know about the current and changing use of chapel buildings-your contribution will help us document Wales’s chapel heritage.
Read and share the full press release: https://zurl.co/5v0LH
This press release may be shared widely. All text and images are available to reuse- please just remember to include the appropriate image credit. For high-resolution copies, please contact: [email protected].
