Full Report for Listed Buildings
Summary Description of a Listed Buildings
Date of Designation
23/10/1998
Date of Amendment
31/10/2003
Name of Property
Elim United Reformed Church and attached Schoolroom
Unitary Authority
Torfaen
Community
Cwmbran Central
Location
In a walled and gated burial ground, on the S side of Commercial Street in the centre of Cwmbran.
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
History
Independent Chapel erected in 1844. Elim split from nearby Penywaun in 1843. Schoolroom erected in 1872.
Exterior
Rendered externally, slate roof. S gable-front has well-proportioned stucco facade. External render incised with lines in simulation of ashlar. Monumental flat-headed neo-Grec doorcase; moulded architrave has projecting roundels and big hood-mould supported on elaborate consoles; panelled double-doors. Flanking entrance are tall round-arched windows with moulded architraves and aprons. Upper gable carries a stone tablet inscribed:
ELIM
INDEPENDENT CHAPEL
1844
Tablet has moulded architrave; base forms part of continuous string course at eaves level. Corners of gable-front emphasised by raised render at angles, in simulation of quoins. Single-storey Schoolroom is attached to right of main chapel. Render incised, as before; slate roof. Off-centre gabled porch has round-arched entrance doorway with plain overlight and 4-panel door. Tablet in gable dated 1872. Front wall of school has three 12-pane sash windows with segmental arched heads.
Interior
Double doors into narrow panelled vestibule: round-arched leaded-light window in facing wall; gallery stair to right and 6-panel door to chapel, left. Medium-sized, single cell chapel with gallery across entrance-side only, and painted woodwork. Raked gallery, supported by slender cast-iron columns, has open backed benches and front of rectangular wooden panels; the inner faces of the middle panels curved around centre clock. Attached to panelling at back of the chapel are a pair of close boarded pews with shaped ends. Leaded-light windows with patterned glass, some modern secondary glazing. The 'set fawr', pulpit, and rear pulpit wall are modern, in contrast to the front end which is a relatively unaltered interior for the period.
Reason for designation
Chapel with imposing front and unusual Greek Revival doorcase which, despite interior changes, still retains a strong historic character.
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