Capel Tabor including attached vestry to right and gates and railings

Cadw's description

Location

Situated on the W side of a minor road just W of the village centre.

History

Calvinsitic Methodist chapel of 1860, replacing a chapel of 1769, rebuilt in 1796 and 1820, the 1860 work probably reusing part of the old chapel. Fine interior with detail more typical of the 1870s, pitch pine pews and ornate detail to gallery front, but painted grained pulpit without platform may be of 1860. Vestry appears to have been enlarged in later C19, but is probably the stable loft and schoolroom built in 1846 onto the chapel of 1820.

Exterior

Chapel, rubble stone with slate roof and bracket eaves. Big rubble stone long-wall front of square-headed openings with stone voussoirs. Two long centre windows with arch-headed glazing and coloured glass margins, two outer doors and 2x16-pane square gallery lights above. Doors are late C19 panelled with diagonal boarding in panels. Blocked door with stone voussoirs on left end wall. Two-storey, 3-window rear, 16-pane hornless sashes above, horned sashes with marginal bars below.
Attached to front wall left are double iron gates with spearhead railings and dog-bars. One outer stone pier with mounting block attached.
Vestry attached to right, L-plan, set back. Yellow brick ridge stack. Ground floor left has door and 4-pane sash with stone voussoirs and first floor left 12-pane sash with yellow brick head, then broad gable to right has 2 first floor windows with yellow brick heads and C20 glazing, over ground floor blocked cart entry with red brick arch, door and window with stone voussoirs, and the stone outside steps up to door in porch block at right angles to facade. Rear has yellow-brick heads to upper windows, wing has cart-entry with yellow brick arch in rear return, and large window above with stone voussoirs. Outside of wing has C20 render, 2 windows and door up steps to first floor.

Interior

Fine interior with pulpit on entrance wall. Painted timber 3-sided gallery with curved angles on 7 iron columns with leaf capitals. Gallery front has deep cornice with zig-zag moulding and paired brackets under long panels divided by panelled pilasters, set over the paired brackets. Pilasters have roundel mid panels and paired brackets in place of capitals. Pitch pine numbered pews with roll-top doors, some inward facing each side of pulpit. Set fawr has unusual Jacobean-style fretwork pierced back of interlinked circles and coved-armed crosses. Newels at entries have similar detail to panels and shaped finials. Pulpit is relatively narrow, without platform, painted grained light brown, canted front with curving steps and turned balusters up each side. Stair newels match set fawr. Pulpit front has trefoil-head panels and heavy angle columns with carved capitals, in dark colour, under moulded cornice and dark-painted bookrest. Behind pulpit an arch panelled in light brown grained wood. Entrance lobbies project from under gallery ends, boarded with window towards pulpit, each window with coloured glass margin and diagonally-crossed glazing bars. Coved ceiling border to plain plaster ceiling with simple roundel centre and 4 square pierced vents.

Reason for designation

Included as a large and handsome example of the long-wall chapels of the mid C19, with good later C19 interior.