Rhydywernen Chapel including forecourt walls and railings is a Grade II listed building in the Gwynedd local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 31 January 2001. Chapel.
Rhydywernen Chapel including forecourt walls and railings
- WRENN ID
- spare-fireplace-saffron
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Gwynedd
- Constituency
- Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP: Liz Saville Roberts (PC)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 31 January 2001
- Type
- Chapel
- Address
- Rhydywernen Chapel including forecourt walls and railings, Cwm Main, Bala, Llandderfel
- OS grid reference
- SH 971 407
- Coordinates
- 52.95414, -3.53286
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
Rhydywernen Chapel is a small Victorian Calvinistic-Methodist chapel built with a simple square plan, constructed from local rubble and topped with slate roofs. The symmetrical facade features paired central windows and outer entrances with boarded doors. The windows are tall 8-pane sashes adorned with coloured marginal glazing and projecting stone sills. The left gable faces a walled graveyard and is covered in iron sheeting. The rear elevation has two similar windows and a slate plaque inscribed with 'Capel a Rhydywernen'. To the right, there is a lean-to boiler room made of rubble and slate, with a boarded door on the inner face.
The chapel is situated behind a roughly square forecourt, which has low rubble front walls topped with spear-headed iron railings and a matching central gate, accessed by three concrete steps. The side walls of the forecourt are taller and feature stone copings.
Inside, there are wind porches with 4-panel doors and marginally-glazed windows. The interior has a square plan with a vertically-boarded pine dado and a boarded ceiling with moulded ribs that converge towards a simple central plaster rose. It also includes a simple cornice and marginal ribbing. The pew seating is slightly raked towards the Set Fawr, which has a simple panelled enclosure with canted sides. The Set Fawr itself features a 3-panelled pulpit with curved side sections, and the upper part has turned balusters. An arched niche at the rear has a moulded archivolt supported by wooden consoles. Short flights of steps ascend on either side, with turned balusters and newels topped with geometric finials. At the entrance end, there is an inset dedication plaque with the dates 1805, 1825, and 1849.
Local climate
Rhydywernen Chapel including forecourt walls and railings sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,110 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 70% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 51 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 31 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2018
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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