Full Report for Listed Buildings


Summary Description of a Listed Buildings


Reference Number
21316
Building Number
 
Grade
II  
Status
Designated  
Date of Designation
08/02/1999  
Date of Amendment
17/02/2003  
Name of Property
Aberfan Calvinistic Methodist Chapel  
Address
 

Location


Unitary Authority
Merthyr Tydfil  
Community
Merthyr Vale  
Town
Merthyr Tydfil  
Locality
Aberfan  
Easting
307060  
Northing
200123  
Street Side
W  
Location
Prominently situated on main road at N end of terrace row, set in raised forecourt with stone gate piers.  

Description


Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary  
Period
 

History
Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, built 1876. Foundation stone laid by Sarah Griffiths, wife of the owner of the Aberfan Estate. Pipe organ installed as memorial to the Aberfan disaster of 1966.  

Exterior
1876 Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in rock-faced pennant stone, with sandstone dressings. Slate roof. Simple classical front with pedimental gable. 2 storey, 3 bay facade with first-floor rusticated pilasters over long-and-short quoins to outer margins of ground-floor. Plaque inscribed " Aberfan " to gable, flanked by pair of roundels, with blank quatrefoil panel above. Cornice above second storey windows, stucco band between storeys. Arched windows to upper storey with single window to each side of triplet in centre, the openings linked by architrave surrounds with keyblocks and moulded inposts. Ground floor has flat-headed windows with rusticated voussoirs, and arched large door with sandstone pilasters, voussoirs and keystone. Pair of 4-panelled wooden doors with radiating-bar fanlight over. Original horned sash windows with marginal glazing bars. Coloured glass to central triplet and fanlight. Rendered plain 4-bay sides, with stucco band, arched windows above, and flat-headed windows below.  

Interior
Interior of 1876. Three-sided gallery with curved angles, on 7 thin, cast-iron columns, with plain capitals, made by J P Biddle of Merthyr. Gallery front has painted graining of high quality. Long horizontal panels, separated by pilasters. The long panels have inset framed panels vertically boarded, and the pilasters have arch-ended panels and triple brackets as capitals. Centre clock framed by similar pilasters. Painted cornice below and moulded top rail. Lower cornice has paired brackets aligned with the pilasters. Raked pitch-pine gallery pews, with panelled boarded backs and simple bench-ends, curved to angles. Similar main pews in 2 aisles, but more ornamental bench-ends. Small timber pulpit with side stairs with turned balusters and ball-finial newels. Pulpit projects slightly from platform, with panelled front. Dwarf balustrade over panels to sides. Large, later C20, wall-mounted pipe organ on rear wall, erected in memory of the 1966 Aberfan Disaster. Plaster ceiling lacking centre rose (removed late C20), but with small, stucco roundels to corners and above triplet window. Simple painted banded stucco cornice. Entrance lobby has centre window with coloured glass and 4-panel doors.  

Reason for designation
Included for its architectural interest as a well-designed Victorian chapel with unaltered stone facade, prominent in Aberfan, and retaining interior with good gallery.  

Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]





Export