22211

 

II  

Designated  

27/08/1999  

27/08/1999  

Capel Hendre and Vestry  

 

Carmarthenshire  

Llandybie  

Ammanford  

Capel Hendre  

259432  

211227  

 

Prominently sited at the south east of the village of Capel Hendre, at south of the road and at the corner of Cooper's Road. Large graveyard opposite. Stone-walled enclosure with iron gates and railings.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

The first Capel Hendre was established by the Calvinistic Methodists in 1812 on land given by Sir John Stepney. It was rebuilt in 1841: an old photograph shows a side-entry chapel, sited at the west side of the present graveyard, opposite the present chapel. This was replaced by the present building of 1900 to the south side of the road, which responded to the population growth of the area at the time. At a later date, probably c1920, a large vestry was added to the east of the chapel, with a small link to it.  

A gable-entry urban chapel in classical style. Rock-faced sandstone masonry in small courses with ashlar dressings. Render to side and rear elevations. Slate roof with tile ridge. The entrance front has a central panel designed as a two-storey feature, which includes the two entrances and a triple window above; the doors have a moulded archivolts and linked string courses. The upper storey is framed by shallow pilasters; common sill on brackets; archivolts linked by a string course; corbels above. Tall flanking windows outside the panel with ashlar stone surrounds. Name stone at centre of pediment. Ashlar rustication at corners. Small projection to the roof verge with brackets beneath the bargeboards. The windows are round-headed with horizontal glazing bars only; the flanking windows and the centre window in the ashlar panel are of two lights, with mullions and a simple tracery at head. The others are single lights. Modern boarded doors with large fanlights and Y tracery. Four-window two-storey fenestration to sides; horned sash windows of four panes and margins with fixed lights in heads. Large vestry with a short link to the chapel, with its main front on the same building line. Façade in rock-faced sandstone in small courses in a formalised Dutch or Art-Deco style. Prominent parapet to the gable, with convex volutes at foot, stepping up to a hollow each side which then steps up to a plain sided top with an apex feature. Vertical decorative feature near the apex. Slightly advanced large panel with an upper Diocletian window. Single light side windows. Large flat-roofed porch with two front doors and a roundel window between. The porch and the main elevation both have rusticated quoins. Rendered sides with five sash windows. Plain rear with small annex.  

Anteroom with patterned coloured tile paving. Obscured single window to the interior, small margin panes. Moulded cove to the ceiling with central acanthus feature. Pine joinery with four-panel doors to interior and to gallery. Stairs each side with handrail on balusters, turned bottom newels. Brass nosings to the steps. Fine main interior with a gallery carried on six Corinthian columns; the gallery front is in wide panels, vertically boarded, on large brackets. Curved corners, central clock. Three tiers of seating at the sides and six at the rear. The pulpit front is stepped forward twice. Two fretwork panels at front, with short Gothic colonnettes; the flanking panels have balusters at top. Winding stairs each side. The sedd fawr has similar balustered top and rounded corners. The main pews in four blocks with two passageways, staggered centre division; the side pews angled or turned 90º to face the pulpit. The pew-ends have brass umbrella holders and enamel pew-numbers. Acanthus leaf centre feature in the ceiling. Perimeter strip in diagonal boarding with fretwork-faced ventilators. To the rear of the chapel are minor service rooms, and the corridor leading to the vestry. The vestry has a plain interior divided into a centre and two aisles by lines of moveable folding screening. Stage at rear, raised about 1m. The moveable screens are in leaves five panels in height, the top four glazed; they run on top and bottom track. Doors at intervals. Barrel ceiling to the central part, with some glazing in panels. Ventilators in circular frames decorated with bay leaves.  

Listed as a good late C19 urban chapel with a strikingly designed early C20 vestry.