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Our History

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Interior View

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Outside View

horeb-foundation

Laying of the foundation stone in 1926

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The story of Horeb Chapel began in 1843 when the Union of Welsh Independents established their chapel in upper Dyserth. The original chapel building still stands next to the current church and is the village fish and chip shop.

Unfortunately over the next 50 years, a succession of Ministers failed to make the chapel a success. The Welsh-speaking congregation in Dyserth gradually dwindled down to two or three, meanwhile English visitors made a demand during the summer for English services. Application was made to have Horeb Chapel converted into an English place of worship and it was admitted into the North Wales English Congregational Union in 1906.

Soon the English-speaking population was too large for the little chapel to accommodate.

Land next to the existing chapel was bought and a stone laying ceremony held on October 26th 1926.

Rev Ben Williams, the first pastor of the church laid the first stone, placing underneath the stone three sheets of parchment containing a history of the church since its formation as an English Church in 1906. This was enclosed in a lead envelope.

The formal Opening Service took place on Thursday 7th April 1927.

In March 1936, came an unexpected offer of an organ, which had been installed in a private house in Birmingham and had to be disposed of almost immediately. A deputation was sent to examine the organ, and a price of £275 was negotiated.

The day after WWII broke out a meeting of Deacons took place and such matters as the blacking out of church windows, the time of the evening service and the War effort were discussed.

In October 1939 it was agreed that the school-room be used as a Day School for the evacuees from St Xavier’s Roman Catholic School in Liverpool.

The war and post-war years saw a succession of ministers with various successes. The church grew in strength under the care of W H Clark. However, one later minister left the church after a crisis of faith, and yet another was asked to leave by the deacons because of nefarious dealings with parishioner’s property (alleged). There was also a short time with Miss Daisy Pearce, a former missionary in China and Formosa.

In 1967 a new schoolroom was built and was named in memory of Rev E Paterson who died the same year.

In September 1985, Lynne, wife of the then minister Rev Kevin Watson, gave birth to triplets at H M Stanley Hospital, St Asaph.  These were the first children born in the manse.

There have been many changes since that time. The pews were removed in 1984 and the sanctuary re-carpeted and a raised worship area created.

In 1989 the congregation received visitors from the church in Debrecen in Hungary, who presented the altar cloth which was dedicated by the General Secretary of the URC, Rev Bernard Thorogood.

In 2006 the church voted to return to its original name of Horeb Chapel.

In 2008 the sanctuary was modernised again and the kitchen refurbished. In 2012 the large vestry was renamed the Henry Gordon Room in memory of the Rev Henry Gordon who was minster from 1990 – 2004.

The Henry Gordon Room housed the Dyserth Community Library which opened following the withdrawal of the County Mobile Library service. The Library closed during the Covid Pandemic in 2021 and the room is now used for small group meetings.

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