Swansea residents with loved ones and ancestors buried in a chapel's historic cemetery fear they will no longer be able to visit their loved ones' graves when the land and buildings are sold.
Members of the recently formed "Bethel Relatives Group" - local people with relatives buried at the cemetery at Bethel Chapel in Sketty - are also concerned the grounds will no longer be maintained properly when the building, which dates back to 1870, changes hands. They say well known people, including one of the soldiers who fought in the battle of Rorke's Drift, made famous by the film, Zulu, are buried there.
The Chapel, located in Carnglas Road, is a Grade II listed building and is on the market with estate agency Rees Richards & Partners for £400,000, to include the chapel building, adjoining chapel vestry and a recently renovated three-bedroom detached home, set within four and a half acres of land.
In a statement, trustees said the difficult decision to put the chapel up for sale followed decreasing members and an ageing congregation.
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Bethel Relatives' Group is calling for the Trustees of the Chapel to explain what measures will be in place to ensure they will still be able to visit their loved ones when the chapel is sold and what will be done to ensure the new owners keep the cemetery well-maintained. You can get the biggest Swansea news stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
Chair of the group, Dr Barbara Morris said: "We are very concerned to ensure that relatives with loved ones or ancestors buried at Bethel will still have free access to visit their family graves, and also that this large cemetery, covering four acres, will still be properly maintained with the grass cut and weeds kept down so it does not become a wilderness."
She claimed the trustees were not telling them anything about the sale or what would happen to the graves. Of the £400,000 asking price, she added: "We think some of that very large sum should be earmarked to help safeguard the future of the cemetery for many years to come."
Fellow member of the group, Geoffrey Evans from Killay, said four generations of his family were buried at Bethel and he was fearful for how the cemetery and chapel would fare when they were sold. He hoped the trustees of Bethel Chapel would not "ignore the justifiable concerns of so many relatives of loved ones buried in this private cemetery." You can read more stories about Swansea here.
Bethel Chapel is home to thousands of graves of people of all backgrounds, including a well-loved 19th century Welsh missionary, Griffith John, and a Rorke's Drift soldier, James Owen. Mr Owen is one of a small number of British soldiers represented in the 1964 film Zulu, which depicts the events of the Battle of Rorke's Drift between the British Army and the Zulus in January, 1879.
Explaining what the Bethel Relatives Group were looking for from trustees, a spokesperson added: "We are appealing to Dr Dai Lloyd (one of the trustees) or another trustee to think again and to attend a committee meeting of the Bethel Relatives’ Group to be held in Sketty on Monday, September 5, evening."
The trustees of Eglwys Annibynnol Bethel Sgeti said: "After long consideration, discussion and heartache, the trustees of Bethel Sketty have decided to put the premises and cemetery (which is owned by the trustees) up for sale. We are faced with decreasing members and an ageing congregation which has led us to make this extremely difficult decision."
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