Belgrave Chapel

Belgrave Chapel is a Congregational chapel built in 1847 by Edward Walters. It is constructed of sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and a slate roof to the porch, while the rest of the roof is corrugated sheet with ventilators. The building is laid out on a north-south axis, comprising a four-bay nave with a north porch, aisles, an east transept, and a chancel. The design is in the Early English style, notable for its strong vertical emphasis.

The porch rises from a substantial weathered plinth with steps leading to a raised entrance. It features high, open arches in three orders on each side, and short octagonal pinnacled turrets flanking the gable. The inner wall contains a large doorway with short shafts on either side and an arch moulded in three orders, enclosed by a hoodmould with foliated stops. Above the doorway are three lancet windows, which are continued above the roof line as a prominent arcaded screen, finished with three gablets and flanked by octagonal turrets topped with pinnacles. The aisles have parapets, and two windows in each bay. The east aisle has full-height buttresses between the bays; the west aisle’s buttresses are smaller and terminate below the parapet. The transept has coupled entrance arches in the first bay, with coupled windows above, separated by a trefoil. The short, two-bay chancel has a slightly lower roof and lancet windows.

The interior has been heavily altered for industrial use, but the chancel arch remains, with shafts and foliated capitals. Belgrave Chapel represents an early and striking example of the adoption of Gothic architecture by Nonconformist places of worship.