THIS funky, graffiti strewn building on Talbot Street might look like a hipster’s hangout but Dublin City Council has now granted it protected status because of its unusual history.
The 5 Star Internet Café building actually started life in 1838 when foundations were laid for the Welsh chapel Bethel; a place of worship that came under the authority of Anglesey, an island off the north-west coast of Wales.
At that time religious services for travelling island sailors were held on ships in Dublin Port but as demand grew a chapel was needed for the hundreds of Welsh sailors who visited the city.
The site on Talbot Street was seen as the perfect location for the chapel because of its proximity to the docks and position in the heart of the city.
The chapel was considered an island of Welshness in the middle of Dublin, to the surprise and admiration of the Irish, including Minister for Finance from 1927-32, Ernest Blythe.
“I went there one Sunday morning to revel in the sound of a language closely related to Irish,
? he said after a visit.
“That little Welsh-speaking congregation, maintaining its individuality in a foreign city, made a profound impression on me.
?
During the Easter rising in 1916 the chapel closed for over a week because of the fighting.
The vestry was used as a weapon store and it was said that chapel minister, John Lewis, received a bullet through his hat brim.
Throughout troubled times the chapel kept going, even though the number of members declined each year.
In December 1939 the monthly meeting in Llangefni decided to close the chapel for the duration of the war, because of the difficulties involved in ministers crossing the sea for the services.
In August 1944 it was reported in the monthly meeting in Cefn Bach that the chapel had been sold.
One of the oldest surviving buildings in Talbot Street, the chapel building became a shoe shop, then a snooker hall and is now an internet café.
Much of the historic fabric of the building still remains including early 19th century sliding sash windows, a fine plasterwork ceiling, Welsh slate roof and cast iron gutters.
Netta Jones, the last remaining member of the former Welsh chapel, passed away in Holyhead in January 2015. Former Draig Werdd member Howell Evans, who was also a member of the chapel, died in Dublin in 2012 at the age of 104.
The history of the chapel was also documented by Hugh and Meirion Williams in 2012.
It was also the focus of RTÃ? One’s Capital D in 2011, as well as a BBC radio production that detailed the importance of the chapel.
Members of the Welsh Society in Ireland, Draig Werdd, have worked tirelessly to document the history of the Bethel chapel and its significance to Wales and to Ireland.
They supported the campaign to list it as protected building and were supported by various Welsh groups and here in Ireland by An Taisce, UCD Celtic Studies, the Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir and all Dublin Inner City TDs.