Neath Mission Hall, Neath, Neath Port Talbot

History

The Mission Hall was built in 1903, initially as an extension of the earlier and adjoining Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, which had been built in 1884 by D.M. Davies, architect. The Mission Hall was built by the Forward Movement, which was the missionary wing of the Calvinistic Methodist Church that sought to evangelise the working classes of Cardiff and industrial South Wales, and was led by the Reverend John Pugh (1846-1907). The Movement had a strong following in Neath where Seth Joshua (1858-1925) and his brother Frank Joshua (1861-1920) had been evangelising since 1883. The building of the Mission Hall coincided with Frank Joshua’s ordination by the Calvinistic Methodists. The earlier chapel remained standing but subsequently declined in importance and is now known as the Lesser Hall.

Exterior

The Mission Hall has a front in Arts-and-Crafts style, of brick with stone dressings, lintel and sill bands, with rubble stone side and rear walls, under a slate roof, which is hipped to the front. The front is divided into 3 bays by pilasters. In the centre bay is a pair of recessed doorways behind original iron gates and beneath keyed segmental heads with projecting hood moulds. Each has half-glazed panel doors under a small-pane segmental overlight. There is another front entrance in a lower link on the L side between Mission Hall and Lesser Hall, which has a flat roof concealed behind a coped gable with original rainwater goods. The link has a similar doorway and iron gates to the central bays of the hall. In the outer bays of the Mission Hall are 2 small-pane windows with moulded transoms. Above the sill band are foundation stones laid by several individuals, including John Pugh and Seth Joshua. At the upper level the central bay is filled with a wide 6-light window, which is continued by 3 lights in the outer bays to create a continuous glazed strip, helping to give the front a distinct secular character. There is a deep dentilled eaves.

The R-hand side wall is partly rendered, after a former attached building was taken down. The 6-window side walls have, under brick segmental heads, on the R-hand side, 2 tiers of T-shape wood-framed windows with coloured leaded lights, while on the L side the less-visible windows above the link have been replaced by plastic units. Walls curve round to the rear, with further segmental-headed windows, to a projection at the rear housing the organ and minister’s room beneath it.

The earlier chapel, known as the Lesser Hall, is to the L. It is set back from the street behind dwarf stone walls (original railings have been removed), and is built of rubble-stone walls under a slate roof. The gable-end front is cement rendered and is in a very simple classical style, with round-headed openings. There are 2 doorways in the centre, with panel doors and overlights, between which is a foundation stone, recording Davies as architect and Thomas & Cox as the builders. The doorways are flanked by wood-framed fixed windows and there are similar windows at the upper level lighting the former gallery, flanking triple round-headed windows in the centre. In the rear wall are 2 round-headed windows with wooden Y-tracery.

Interior

The interior was designed as a single undivided space, but in the latter half of the C20 an entrance vestibule and a second minister’s room were created inside the entrance. Otherwise the interior has retained its original parquet floor, boarded wainscot and plastered walls. The ceiling consists of large boarded panels with small round cast-iron ventilator grilles. The main hall was never furnished with pews in order to maximise the number of people who could attend meetings, a feature that distinguishes mission halls from other non-conformist places of worship. However there are pews in the 3-sided raked gallery, which stands on cast-iron piers and has an ornate openwork cast-iron front. The gallery is reached by stairways in either side wall, close to the entrance. These are closed-string staircases, except for a quarter-turn at the bottom where there are turned balusters and square newels. The stairs open to the gallery by double half-glazed doors. In the main hall there is a raised dais, but the set fawr has been removed. Behind it is a pulpit incorporated into brass railings on twisted balusters. There are raked pews for a choir behind the dais and, further behind in the recess, is an organ installed in memory of Frank Joshua, i.e. after 1920, which has a name plate for Henry Salter & Sons, Neath. The windows R and L of the organ recess have stained glass in memory of Frank Joshua, his brother Seth, and Dr R. Davies, who was pastor between 1926 and 1942. These, incongruous here, depict various scenes with Christ in a style left over from the C19.

Flanking the dais are double doors which open into curved corridors to the minister’s room at the back of the hall. This room has simple panel doors, a boarded wainscot and painted fireplace surround.

The link between the Mission Hall and the Lesser Hall is top-lit with hipped lanterns, and has a quarry-tile floor and boarded wainscot. The Lesser Hall no longer has any features of interest, and a false ceiling has been inserted into it.

Reasons for Listing

Listed grade II for its architectural interest as a rare well-preserved example of a mission hall, retaining very good interior detail. It is also of special historical interest as one of the last remaining buildings erected by the Forward Movement, which had an important role to play in the evangelising of working-class communities in South Wales at the beginning of the twentieth century.

It is not the intention to list the Lesser Hall as it is not of special architectural or historic interest.

External Links

Cadwr Listing

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