Berea Congregational Chapel was built in 1842 and rebuilt in 1850. The present chapel, dated 1850, was designed by Thomas Thomas of Landore, in the Simple Round-Headed and Vernacular style, with a gable entry plan and two storeys. By 2006 this chapel had been converted for use as a mosque.
RCAHMW, August 2011

Berea Congregational Chapel was built in 1842 and rebuilt in 1850. The present chapel, dated 1850, was designed by Thomas Thomas of Landore in a robust vernacular style with simple round-headed windows and doorway. The chapel is on a steep site with a gable entry plan, and required bracing in 1879-80.

In 2004 this chapel was adapted for use as the Berea Masjid serving the eastern Valleys. The new spatial use of the former chapel involved clearing the ground-floor pews but the special interior features of the listwed building ahve been retained: the gallery, the balustraded pulpit and stair, and the boarded ceiling. The exterior is unaltered but has new signage in Arabic and English: 'Berea Masjid' (above dooway); 'Imaan Islamic Society' (above door).

This record was created by RCAHMW’s Welsh Asian Heritage Project (2023–24), funded by the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

Sources:

(1) https://cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/reports/listedbuilding/FullReport?lang=&id=22381 (Berea United Reformed Chapel, including gates and railings) (2) https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/1610511#?xywh=-296%2C-39%2C1457%2C844 (3) Perminder Dhillon & Radha Patel (ed.), O Fudo i Wydnwch: Profiadau Asiaid Cymry / From Migration to Resilience: Welsh Asian Experiences (RCAHMW, 2004), p. 25.

Site Record

Berea Masjid; Berea Welsh Congregational Chapel, (Blaenau), Blaina