Capel Hermon

Cadw's description

Location

Situated at Cwmdu on the NW side of a minor road, some 4km NE of Llanraeadr-ym-Mochnant.

History

Calvinistic Methodist chapel, rebuilt in 1906 in inventive Arts and Crafts Gothic displaying Art Nouveau influences, replacing a chapel of 1827. Foundation stone laid in memory of the Revival of 1904-5. Possibly by Shayler & Ridge, architects of other Arts and Crafts chapels in the area.

Exterior

Chapel and vestry. Whitewashed roughcast with ashlar dressings on plinth of grey rough rubble stone. Slate eaves roofs. Unusual double gable front, the main chapel gable asymmetrically unbalanced by low gable over door, this last with short roof to valley and long low roof to left. Vestry projects left at right angles with large roughcast corniced stack in angle of two roofs.

Rubble plinth with ashlar chamfered top broken forward for 3 buttresses, a pair closely clasping the door, the right of these also the left buttress of the main chapel gable, echoed by one at right corner (one of a pair clasping corner). three foundation stones over plinth then very large 6-light free styled window with ashlar frame, mullions and tracery, leaded lights, and painted flush sill. Window is framed by thin buttress-piers rising from plinth level, with steep sloping tops under tiny gables. Tops frame a deep double-curved ashlar window head with gabled keystone, the curve shallower to window head than to upper edge. Window mullions are plain vertical except for centre one which flowers into cinquefoil-cusped heart tracery framed by two cusped mouchettes. Small triple vent in gable with louvres.

Doorway to left has tall narrow door with 3-light overlight, also double curved to ashlar head, in miniature of the big window head. Overlight has vertical mullions cusping to centre light and the shape is echoed in the head of the leaded-glazed panel in the door below. Under long roof-slope to left is a plain roundel, door in short return wall. Set-back vestry wing to left has taller roof, 2 narrow 12-pane fixed-light windows to side-wall right, arched large end-wall window with keystone to surround and 2 similar narrow windows to extreme left of rear wall, adjacent to rear gable of chapel, which has flanking buttresses with ramped tops, plain barred roundel window, and a little vent in gable as on main front. Chapel right side has paired 15-pane windows between buttresses with ramped tops.

Interior

Porch passage with door to chapel to right and vestry straight ahead. Half-glazed doors. Chapel has broad interior without galleries, pulpit on rear gable wall. Panelled dado. Stained pine pews in 3 blocks with panelled backs, slightly raked towards rear. Inward facing pews each side of panelled 3-sided 'set fawr' facing low pulpit with 4 Gothic-traceried panels and canted sides. Seat in recess with vertical boarding behind with similar blind tracery, the recess rising up to include round window with hoodmould over. Three-bay roof, 3-sided ceiled at collar level. Two big arch braced collar trusses on ogee curved brackets resting on stone corbels. Exposed rafters and collar-rafters. On left wall is broad opening with slatted roller-blind opening into vestry.

Vestry has 3-sided plastered ceiling and boarded dado.

Reason for designation

Included for its architectural interest as an inventive Arts and Crafts chapel design.