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Sunday, 15 March 2020

Groes Village - Reduced to Rubble

In a bit of a twist from the usual subject matter for this blog, the building still exists, but the village it is part of does not.
Groes village, near Port Talbot in South Wales was a planned village designed by renowned architect Edward Haycock and built in the 1830s.
The village contained houses, a school and the Beulah Calvanistic Methodist Chapel also known as The Round Chapel or Capel y Groes in Welsh.
Photographs of the village itself show a picturesque little place which wouldn't have looked out of place in an Avengerland style ITC production.
Unfortunately for Groes the construction of the M4 motorway commenced in 1961 and in 1974 despite protests , a fight with The Welsh Office and the local council's suggestion of an alternative route, the government decided that Groes would be demolished.
21 families were rehoused, homes and the school destroyed and the village was all but obliterated. It was eventually demolished in 1976 and all that remains now is a section of grass with the village's name stamped on it.
Well that is not quite all that remains. As I stated at the top of this post, the chapel still exists. The Grade II listed building and the only surviving octagonal chapel in Wales was dismantled in 1975/6 and relocated to nearby Tollgate Park where I'm remains to this day.
The below card is published by Frith in 1938 and shows the building in its original location.


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