History in Structure

Bethel Congregational Chapel

A Grade II Listed Building in Llandderfel, Gwynedd

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Coordinates

Latitude: 52.9461 / 52°56'46"N

Longitude: -3.5076 / 3°30'27"W

OS Eastings: 298796

OS Northings: 339812

OS Grid: SH987398

Mapcode National: GBR 6J.LDFF

Mapcode Global: WH671.26ZS

Plus Code: 9C4RWFWR+CX

Entry Name: Bethel Congregational Chapel

Listing Date: 20 October 1966

Last Amended: 31 January 2001

Grade: II

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 4657

Building Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Also known as: Bethel Congregational Chapel

ID on this website: 300004657

Location: At Bethel, on a minor road leading off the N side of the A494 to Tyn-y-Bwlch and Maerdy, close to the junction of the two roads. Set back in a narrow forecourt behind Art Nouveau-style cast-iron rail

County: Gwynedd

Town: Bala

Community: Llandderfel

Community: Llandderfel

Locality: Bethel

Traditional County: Merionethshire

Tagged with: Chapel

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History

Said to carry the date of 1816 on a slate slab to the rear, but substantially remodelled (though probably incorporating the earlier building) c1860-70. Used for storage when inspected.

Exterior

Gable end entry chapel with fine entrance facade. Lined-out render over brick, with moulded cornice band and hipped slate roof with red tiled cresting. Entrance front has pedimented centre-piece set forward of the main chapel body and separately roofed; main chapel body has hipped roof. Entrances set to either side of advanced centre-piece, into main chapel body, with richly-panelled, renaissance-style doors in moulded architraves with pediment hoods carried on brackets; blind keyed oculi over each doorway. Advanced centre-piece has bold modillion cornice to strongly projecting pediment, and contains 18-pane horned sash window with pedimented head clasped by coupled pilasters sprung from a string course at sill level. Return elevations each a 4-window range: 18-pane sashes in moulded architraves with pediments carried on scrolled brackets.

Interior

Vertically-boarded dado and counter-changed black/white aisle pavements between raised pew platforms (the pews themselves have been removed); simple ceiling with 3 decorative plaster vent roses. Inner porches with moulded plaster cornices having egg-and-dart decoration; pavements as before. The end wall has 3 classical niches: the central one has pilasters and frieze, and has a heavy segmental pediment with dentilations and plain projecting key. The flanking niches have blind windows with moulded architraves and pediments supported on consoles.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a later C19 chapel (though with earlier origins), ambitious in scale and enrichment for a rural context, employing an especially finely detailed and consistent Renaissance style.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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