Bethania Capel y Bedyddwyr Neillduol, Maesteg, Bridgend

Entry Name: Bethania Capel y Bedyddwyr Neillduol

Listing Date: 14 July 1997

Last Amended: 14 July 1997

Grade: II*

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 18493

Building Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Also known as: Bethania Capel Y Bedyddwyr Neillduol

ID on this website: 300018493

Location: Located prominently on an elevated site behind a railed forecourt, and facing down Ewenny Road.

County: Bridgend

Town: Maesteg

Community: Maesteg

Built-Up Area: Maesteg

Traditional County: Glamorgan

Tagged with: Chapel

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History

Built in 1908 on the site of 2 earlier chapels (1832 and 1841), and designed by W. Beddoe Rees, architect of Cardiff and a native of Maesteg, to seat 1001 worshippers. The mother church of the Baptist community in the valley which was first established in 1828.

Exterior

Coursed rubble with limestone dressings, and slate roof. Beaux Arts style. Tripartite facade defined by channel-rusticated pilasters rising to a bold pulvinated frieze, each having a central panel topped by decorative shields. The wide central bay has the entrance; an architraved pair of doors flanked by large keyed oculi with aprons. Above, Ionic style columns are set in antis, supporting an entablature inscribed 'CAPEL Y BEDYDDWYR 1908 NEILLDUOL', and a large central 80-pane window set in a cavetto surround. Flanking, are 32-pane sash windows in architraved and corniced surrounds. The narrower outer bays have a pair of recessed doors in moulded surrounds with heavy keyblocks, and above, 32-pane sashes in similar surrounds with exaggerated open half-round pediments with keystones. Above the cornice the facade is gabled with a large semicircular light set in the pediment. Square urns stand on the parapet, and an acroterion at the apex. The facade returns by one bay each side. To the rear a hipped 2-storey vestry building, extending by 3 bays to the N. Central roof ventilator.
The front area has stone walls carrying iron railings between stone piers. The stanchions are shaped, and alternate bars are wavy.

Interior

A remarkably handsome interior, with gallery of 4 raked tiers of seating on 3 sides, rounded to the front, and carried on an arcade of 6 elegant round-headed arches with moulded architraves on cast iron columns, by W A Baker & Co of Newport, Mon. The ceiling is a segmental vault divided by moulded ribs. The front of the gallery is of cast iron, in the form of gilded palmettes, over a coved section. The pulpit is set against a recessed pointed arch in the back wall, occupied by a large pipe organ. Stairs of 6 steps each side rise to a raised galley, the pulpit occupying the part-octagonal centre. Below, the set fawr is enclosed by a moulded timber rail on cast iron palmette stanchions, and covers the immersion font, the access for which is below the pulpit gallery. The framed and boarded pews are in 3 blocks, divided by raked gangways, the side blocks curved, and are complete with umbrella racks and iron dishes. At the back, below the gallery, a stained glass screen encloses the entrance lobby, with extends across to framed open well stairs at each end. Behind the rear wall, there are 3 rooms on the ground floor and 4 above. The vestry, in the rear (N) wing, has a tripartite proscenium arch, with a large stage in the adjoining but spearate structure.
Monuments: On the rear wall two tablets, (a) polished white marble gabled sarcophagus on black, to Iorwerth Jones (Iorwerth ddu), d. 1925., and (b) White marble scroll on black, to Parch. Richard Hughes (Hughes fach), d. 1885, author, poet and minister 1820-85, by Morris of Maesteg. Also 3 brasses, 2 to past conductors, one to an organist.

Reasons for Listing

Included at Grade II* as one of the best surviving architectural achievements by a major chapel architect in his powerful Beaux Arts 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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Other nearby listed buildings

II Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Patrick
Set high above Commercial Street, accessed via steps or from Penygarn Terrace and off Garn Road to the S. Presbytery attached to W by a cloister is not included in the listing.
II Tabor Eglwys Presbyteriadd Cymru
Located prominently in the S part of Commercial Street, elevated, with the gable front to the street.
II Colonel North Memorial Hall
Located at right angles to the Town Hall, facing the 'square' at the centre of Maesteg.
II Church of St David, and surrounding churchyard railed wall.
The church is set in a small graveyard on the corner of Talbot Street and Castle Street, at the centre of Maesteg.
II Post Office
Located between St David's Church and the North Memorial Hall, facing the Town Hall square at the centre of Maesteg.
II Neuadd y Dref (Town Hall )
Located at the E end of the street, facing NE over a triangular market place.
II Cenotaph
Located in the footpath in front of St David's Church and on the corner of Talbot Street and High Street at the centre of Maesteg.
II William Hopkin Thomas memorial Lamp and fountain.
Located in the centre of the triangular 'square' opposite the town hall, at the centre of Maesteg.

British Listed Buildings

History in Structure

Bethania Capel y Bedyddwyr Neillduol

A Grade II* Listed Building in Maesteg, Bridgend

Coordinates