Capel Salem, Pwllheli

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Fri, 13/02/2026 - 00:00

Capel Salem, Pwllheli, has the same name as Martin Top Chapel, but for its Welsh. It was originally built in 1862 for the Calvinistic Methodists, though it was expanded in 1893 and then rebuilt in 1915 after a thief in 1913 discovered nothing worth stealing so decided he would become an arsonist instead.

In September 2022, well known celebrity potter and television presenter Keith Brymer Jones with his actress partner Marj Hogarth, bought the chapel with a view to restoring it and making it "their forever home". Much as I admire their ambition at embarking on so daunting a task, and respect their appreciation of Welsh nonconformist architecture, their concept of a ‘forever home’ I thought ironic. The builders and first users of that chapel understood that no earthly home, not even our actual bodies, can we keep; a few decades is longer than some are allowed, a century or so for the few. The great fire of 1913 further added illustration to that belief. Of course, Mr Jones and Ms Hogarth mean they do not intend to move away or inhabit another property; deep down, they know well enough that death stalks them, too, despite their lovely new work-in-progress. All our belongings and property are subject to invisible tenancy agreements of indeterminate duration. A home is never a ‘forever home’ except that which the Lord Jesus freely gives to all who come to Him, repenting and believing:

Then shall we which live and remain, be caught up with them also in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:17, 1599 Geneva Bible

"Forever with the Lord!"

Amen, so let it be!

Life from the dead is in that word,

'Tis immortality.

Here in the body pent

Absent from Him I roam,

Yet nightly pitch my moving tent

A days march nearer home.

"Forever with the Lord!"

Father if 'tis Thy will,

The promise of that faithful word,

E'en here to me fulfill.