Capel Engedi
Our
heritage
Restoring Capel Engedi as a community space is our long-term ambition. For now, our focus is on community projects and activities with local people. Capel Engedi is a Grade II listed Welsh chapel in Caernarfon, North Wales. The chapel has long been part of Caernarfon's cultural and community life. Its value is not only architectural. It carries stories of gathering, learning, worship, Welsh identity, and local belonging.
From Capel Engedi to
Patagonia
Lewis Jones grew up in a family connected to Capel Engedi, attended the school beneath the chapel, and became part of its literary society. In 1856, a room beneath the chapel hosted an early discussion about creating a Welsh-speaking settlement where the language and culture could endure. Jones later became one of the leading founders of Y Wladfa in Patagonia.
That history reflects the role Capel Engedi once played as a place where people gathered, exchanged ideas, and imagined new possibilities for Welsh culture.
Engedi 2.0 is continuing that legacy in a contemporary way by restoring the chapel as a place where people can learn, create, collaborate, and help Welsh language and culture remain active rather than simply remembered.
A place of
debate and reform
David Lloyd George had a long connection with Capel Engedi. He visited the chapel throughout his political career, addressed audiences there on several occasions, and baptised his son Gwilym there.
That connection places Capel Engedi within a wider story of Welsh public life and social reform. It also reinforces the chapel’s historic role as a place where people gathered, debated ideas, and engaged with the issues shaping their community.
The restoration
today
In the long term, we hope to restore the chapel as a community space for learning, creativity, wellbeing and Welsh culture. In the meantime, we’re building the community, partnerships and project delivery experience that a restored chapel would one day serve.