24588

 

II  

Designated  

31/01/2001  

31/01/2001  

Rhydywernen Chapel including forecourt walls and railings  

 

Gwynedd  

Llandderfel  

Bala  

Cwm Main  

297118  

340739  

 

Located at the western end of the Cwm Main approximately 1.2km N of Sarnau; immediately S of the Cwm Main road, running NE from the Cefn Ddwysarn road; raised up slightly behind a walled, grassed forecourt with decorative railings and central gate.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Mid C19 chapel founded in 1805 and remodelled in 1825 and 1849.  

Small Victorian Calvinistic-Methodist chapel. Simple square plan; of local rubble construction with slate roofs. Symmetrical facade with paired central windows and outer entrances with boarded doors. The windows are tall 8-pane sashes with coloured marginal glazing and projecting stone sills. The L gable faces a walled graveyard and is clad in iron sheeting. The rear elevation has 2 similar windows and a slate plaque inscribed: 'Capel a Rhydywernen'. To the R is a lean-to boiler room of rubble and slate construction with boarded door to the inner face. The chapel is set behind a roughly square forecourt with low rubble front walls having surmounting spear-headed iron railings and a similar central gate; 3 concrete steps up to the gate. The side walls of the forecourt are taller and have stone copings.  

Inner wind porches with 4-panel doors and marginally-glazed windows. Square plan with vertically-boarded pine dado. Boarded ceiling with moulded ribs converging towards a simple central plaster rose; simple cornice and marginal ribbing. Pew seating, raked slightly towards the Set Fawr. This has a simple panelled enclosure with canted sides, the Set Fawr itself with 3-panelled pulpit and curved side sections with the upper part having turned balusters; arched niche to the rear with moulded archivolt carried on wooden consoles. Short flights of steps ascend on either side, with turned balusters and newels, the latter with geometric finials. At the entrance end is an inset dedication plaque with the dates 1805, 1825 and 1849.  

Listed as a small C19 rural chapel retaining its original simple character substantially intact, both internally and externally.