page_title: Llantwit Major
section_title: Bethel Baptist Church
hierarchical_section_title: Llantwit Major / Notable landmarks / Listed buildings / Bethel Baptist Church
caption_attribution_description: English: Bethel Baptist Church, Llantwit Major
context_page_description: Llantwit Major is a town and community in Wales. Situated on the Bristol Channel coast, it is one of four towns in the Vale of Glamorgan, with the third largest population after Barry and Penarth, and ahead of Cowbridge. Llantwit Major is 4 ¹⁄₂ miles from Cowbridge, 9 miles from Bridgend, 10 miles from Barry, and 15 miles from Cardiff. The community had a population of 9,486 in 2011.
  Llanilltud Fawr is named for the Llan of Saint Illtud, the Llan was home to the Monastery of Illtud and the College known as Côr Tewdws. Llantwit would grow into one of the most esteemed centres of Christian culture in the Celtic world. At its peak it attracted over 2000 students, including princes, numerous eminent clergymen and revered saints. The institutions were destroyed by the raiding Vikings in 987, but the monastery was rebuilt by the Normans in 1111 and continued to be a centre of learning until it was disbanded in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The 13th-century St Illtyd's Church, built near the ancient monastery, is a Grade I listed building and one of the oldest parish churches in Wales.
context_section_description: Bethel Baptist Church (51.408714°N 3.485035°W) was erected in 1830 to provide for local Baptists and its first minister was a local shopkeeper named Jabez Lawrence. Christmas Evans, a one-eyed Welsh preacher of considerable renown was reported to have held services here.
caption: Bethel Baptist Church
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