Aberfan Calvinistic Methodist Chapel

Cadw's description

Location

Prominently situated on main road at N end of terrace row, set in raised forecourt with stone gate piers.

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.