page_title: Dre-fach Felindre
section_title: Religious sites
hierarchical_section_title: Dre-fach Felindre / Religious sites
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of the eighteenth century Pen Rhiw Unitarian Chapel, originally from Dre-fach Felindre, now available at St Fagans National History Museum. This is a photo of listed building number 17385.
context_page_description: Dre-fach Felindre is a village in Carmarthenshire, West Wales. It is located four miles south-east of Newcastle Emlyn. It lies at the confluence of three fast-flowing streams, the Nant Bargod, Nant Esgair and Nant Brân, where their steep-sided valleys open out into the Teifi Valley. In the 19th and early 20th century it was an important centre for the woollen industry and was given the epithet, "the Huddersfield of Wales". As the population increased, the villages of Dre-fach and Felindre extended and merged to form the present community.
  The Museum of the Welsh Woollen Industry, now the National Woollen Museum, was opened in 1976 in the Cambrian Mill.
context_section_description: A small chapel-of-ease to Penboyr parish had been founded by the early 18th century, within what was to become Felindre. By 1750 Holy Trinity Chapel, also known as Capel Bach, which was  possibly a post-medieval foundation, had become "dilapidated". It was eventually replaced by St Barnabas' Church in 1862.
  St Barnabas' Church was built for Lord Cawdor (whose birthday was St Barnabas' Day - 11 June), as was the church of St Barnabas' at Rhandirmwyn. The church lies within a triangular churchyard. On its north-east side it is bounded by the B4333 road which runs through the village. The church is of Gothic style and is constructed of Pwntan sandstone with yellow ashlar dressings. It consists of nave, chancel with polygonal apse (which is shafted), south porch and open timber west bellecote.
  Inside the church high thin trusses are supported by corbels. The church has a pipe organ and a number of stained glass windows, Three of the apse windows, which date from 1863, are by Heaton, Butler and Bayne and are considered among the best of this period in the region. Near the entrance is a tile depicting the coat of arms of Lord Cawdor.
  The Unitarian chapel of Penrhiw was converted from a barn in 1777. In 1952 it was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt at St Fagans National History Museum in 1956. The original chapel had a loft, which was removed in the 19th century. The present gallery was added, increasing the seating capacity considerably. The floor of the building was of beaten earth except for the communion area which was boarded. Outside are stone seats, which  would have been used during preaching festivals. Services are still held in the chapel at its new location, and burials still take place at the cemetery at its original site on a grassy slope overlooking Felindre.
  Bethel Baptist Chapel is situated in Drefach Built by Daniel Davies, in 1889-90, it has a typical plastered front with centre arch and Florentine timber tracery.
caption: Interior of the eighteenth-century Pen Rhiw Unitarian Chapel, originally from Dre-fach Felindre, now available at St Fagans National History Museum.
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