The story of the Tabernacl starts with Hugh Owen (1639-1700) of Bronclydwr, Llanegryn - “the apostle of Merioneth” as he was called by the Independents.  He visited Dolgellau every three months to meet a small group of people which congregated at “Ty Cyfarfod” - “The Meeting House”, a dwelling in the Domen Fawr, or Meyrick Square area of the town.  More than a century after Hugh Owen’s death, in 1802 Hugh Pugh, a young man from Brithdir - a village some four miles from Dolgellau, started preaching in Pen-y-garnedd, a dwelling house in the village of Llanelltud, on the outskirts of Dolgellau, and then, in 1803, in a house in Pen-bryn-glas, Dolgellau. In 1804 a congregational church was established in the town, and in 1808 the old meeting house of the Calvanistic Methodists, situated opposite the “Ty Cyfarfod”, was bought by the church. The church made its home there until 1868 when a new chapel, “The Tabernacl” was opened nearer the town centre.

The ministers of the church from its establishment:

The language of worship of the church is Welsh, and through the years Tabernacl has considered the support and use of the Welsh language to be an integral part of its responsibility and mission in the community.

It has also been a church for which social issues have been of the utmost concern and has supported charities and humanitarian movements both locally and further afield. Church members are prominent in the life of the community as town and county councillors, and industrious in support of various movements and causes.

Members: 210     Children / Youth: 53

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