21574

 

II  

Designated  

31/03/1999  

08/11/2001  

Salem Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru  

 

Cardiff  

Canton  

Cardiff  

Canton  

316489  

176601  

W  

Situated 25m north of the junction with Cowbridge Road East and forming part of the good group at Canton Cross.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

The first Salem was built in 1856 at Albert Street, Canton. This was replaced by a new building on the present site, designed by Habershon, Fawckner & Co., of Newport and Cardiff, built 1910-11 at a cost of £7,000.  

Rock-faced Pennant sandstone with Bath stone dressings. Slated ridge roof. Gable ended chapel facing Cowbridge Road East. Slightly projecting pointed arch doorway in centre of main front with large 7-light pointed-arch window above with panel tracery and ogee hoodmould. 4-storey tower with mixture of arched, rectangular and circular windows and stubby spire at south-east corner. Two-storey side elevations divided into bays by stepped buttresses; 2-light arched windows to lower floor and 2-light rectangular windows above, all with panel tracery. Side entrance forms link to Sunday School hall at rear. Two-storey gable elevation to Sunday School with lower storey divided by buttresses into three bays with 2-light, 4-light and 2-light square-headed windows and large 6-light round-headed window above, all with panel tracery.  

Interior not seen at resurvey. 4-bay ceiling with sloping sides and pseudo hammer-beam roof trusses with trussed tie-beams and iron tie-bars. Octagonal timber ventilators to flat, centre section of ceiling. Raked galleries on three sides, canted corners, with panelled timber fronts and supported on cast iron round columns. Rear gallery extended into recess between stair towers. Panelled timber 'set fawr' with rounded corners; wide, curving 2-tier panelled timber front to pulpit with steps on both sides. Organ and pipes set in pointed-arch recess behind pulpit. Coloured Art Nouveau decoration to side windows at ground and gallery levels and to 7-light window behind rear gallery. Entrance vestibule with gallery stairs with iron balustrading at either end, and lobbies to chapel. Large Sunday School hall at rear set at right angles to street.  

Included for its regional interest as a late chapel design in Perpendicular Gothic style, with fine tracery and idiosyncratic tower, by a well-known regional architect.