Crwys Road Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel was built in 1899-1900 to replace the May Street Chapel (NPRN 9248). On 22nd July 1898 plans were put forward to the monthly meeting of the Calvinistic Methodists of East Glamorgan on the basis that their current chapel was too small; the building committee reported that they approved of the site and recommended to the meeting that the the congregation be authorised to raise money to secure the site without delay. (1) Tenders for the building work were offered by the architect, John H Phillips, in March 1899. (2)
On 5th July 1898 a ceremony at the ‘convenient site in Crwys Road’ laid the memorial stones of the new chapel. Stones were laid by by Mrs D Beynon, Mrs Wm. Evans, and Dr. E. T. Davies, each of whom placed a handsome donation of £100 on the stones. The report named the architect as Mr J H Phillips of St Johns Square, Cardiff, and that the chapel was to cost £2,662, affording accommodation for between 600 and 700. The membership at that time was 142. (3) Three days later a substantial write up of the architecture of the chapel, together with a picture of the design, was published in the newspapers:
“SOMETHING NEW IN WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST ARCHITECTURE: “SHON GORPH” IN CARDIFF BOLDLY STRIKES OUT FOR MORE ATTRACTIVENESS: NEW WELSH CHAPEL FOR CARDIFF. [A DRAWING BY THE ARCHITECT]. The cosmopolitan tide flowed through Crwys Road on Wednesday afternoon with its accustomed steadiness; but on one side, near the Rhymney Railway Bridge, there was a little Welsh oasis where for the space of an hour nothing but ‘yr hen iaith’ was to be heard, and where very soon a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist cause will be worshipping, for the edifice is already well under way and its completion is expected about November next. The builders are a branch from Pembroke Terrace, who for the past dozen years or more have been worshipping in a little chapel in May Street. They are now enlarging their borders and confidently believe that there are abundant Welsh people in the immediate district to fill the edifice, the memorial stones of which were laid on Wednesday. The new chapel will seat 650 people. Dr. E. T. Davis, Richmond-road, occupied the chair, and amongst those who took part were the Revs. William James (Aberdare), T. Hughes (Congregationalist), John Pugh, Pritchard (Wesleyan), Dyfed, J. P. Williams, and Walter Daniel, Mr. D. Beynon, and Mr. D. Morgan. The stones were laid by Mrs. D. Beynon, Mrs. E. Evans, and Dr. Davis, each of whom contributed £100 towards the building fund. The new chapel, which will cost about £2,600, is designed by Mr. J. H. Phillips, and erected under the superintendence of Mr. Henry Gibbon. The secretary is Mr. J. R. Jones. The architect deserves credit for one thing: he has induced the stern and Puritanical Welsh Calvinistic Methodists to make a revolutionary departure in chapel architecture. It is a spasm of ornate Dissent, and very welcome on that account. No doubt, the style - or combination of styles, for the architect says his endeavour is to produce a building which, while being indicative of its purpose, will present a bold and dignified appearance - will cause a painful sensation in Welsh Methodist circles; but most people will agree that it is high time to depart from the severe, barn-like simplicity which has for so long been tiresomely characteristic of Calvinistic tabernacles in Wales. Opinion will, no doubt, be divided on the suitability of the design, which seems to be a happy combination of Castell Coch, the old Cardiff Town-hall, and the Hayes Market; but, then, no one has yet struck out an original line without evoking criticism. For instance, what a storm of invective has been produced by the internal decoration of St. Paul's Cathedral. Doubtless, something will be said by the Welsh Methodists up and down the country when the above illustration is recognised as that of a new temple of the "Corph,' but we see none the less reason on that account for congratulating the Cardiff Methodists and their architect on their courage in striking out a new course which makes for more attractiveness.” (4)
The chapel opened on the 18th May 1900. The Royal Commission on the Church of England and Other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire in 1904 noted that the capacity of the chapel was 650, the Sunday Sshool (in the basement) was 400. The value of the chapel was £3,800.(5) In 1923 there were alterations and the addition of an extra floor for an organ chamber, plans carried out by architect R Victor Hayman. (6)
The chapel is built in an electic mix of Lombardic and Arts and Crafts style. It is constructed of Pennant Stone, with Bath Stone and yellow brick dressings, and a slate roof. The façade is formed of an elaborate Dutch gable, the ground floor dominated by an open porch between two D-shaped one-and-a-half-story turrets with copper finials. These, housing the internal stairs to the gallery level, are lit with rising slit windows to the stairs and a row of simialr windows around the top. To the centre of the ground floor is a large, round-headed window featuring a sun-burst design. To the side elavations, the bays are divided by yellow brick pilasters, segementally arched windows to the ground floor, round-headed to the first floor. Below street level is a basement.
The chapel closed in 1988 when the remaining congregation bought the Christian Science Chapel on Richmond Road as a newwre, and easier to maintain building. Crwys Road was subsequently bought by the Bangladeshi Sufi Futoli Movement and was converted to the Shah Jalal Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre.
RCAHMW July 2025
(1) Evening Express 22nd July 1898 (Third Edition)
(2) South Wales Daily News 17th March 1899 (Third Edition)
(3) South Wales Echo 5th July 1899
(4) Weekly Mail 8th July 1899
(5) RCCEORBWM p.260
(6) GRO Cardiff Borough Council Records: Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Crwys Road. Proposed alteration and addition of extra floor to annexe for organ chamber etc.. (BC/S/1/22261)
(7) GRO Cardiff Borough Council Records: Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Crwys Road (BC/S/1/13732)
(8) Cadw Listing Register Ref: 18808
RCAHMW, July 2025
The Shah Jalal Mosque was open in 1988, named after the travelling Sufi who brought Islam to Bengal. The chapel exterior has been little altered apart from some subtle additions, including green paint to the window details and tower tops. Internally the chapel has been adapted for a ground-floor prayer room, an upper floor 'overflow', and the basement school-room continues for education. Management: Bangladeshi; capacity: 525 (online Mosque Directory). Signage in Arabic, Bengali, and English to the right of entrance: 'Shahjalal Mosque / Islamic Cultural Centre/ [below] Est. 1988'. Formerly (see photographs) over the entrance arch in English: 'NONE BUT ALLAH IS WORTHY OF WORSHIP. MUHAMMED IS HIS MESSENGER. Now (2024) MUHAMMAD / PBUH and ALLAH are incorporated into the screen at the entrance with ALLAH AKBAR over the doorway into the mosque. Stars and crescents have apparently been added to the Arts and Crafts towers, but these are difficult to see. A loudspeaker (not used) is attached to the central shaped gable. The transformation of the chapel has been noted by Gilliat-Ray (2010) and Shahed Saleem (2018).
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) Sophie Gilliat-Ray, Muslims in Britain: an Introduction (Cambridge, 2010), p. 186. (2) Abdul-Azim Ahmed, 'Visual Dhikr: a visual analysis of mosques in Cardiff', Dissertation 2010-11, Cardiff University, Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK. (3) Shahed Saleem, The British Mosque: an Architectural and Social History (Historic England, 2018), pp. 253-4. (4) Perminder Dhillon & Radha Patel (ed.), O Fudo i Wydnwch: Profiadau Asiaid Cymry / From Migration to Resilience: Welsh Asian Experiences (RCAHMW, 2004), p. 24-5. (5) https://glamarchives.wordpress.com/2019/05/22/capel-heol-y-crwys-now-shah-jalal-mosque-islamic-cultural-centre-crwys-road-cardiff/
