Capel Berea

Capel Berea is a simply planned chapel built in the 19th century, featuring decorative details primarily on the gabled front that faces the street. The building has smooth rendered walls with raised moulded plaster and some roughcast dressings, topped by a slate roof with red tiled cresting. The entrance front includes a central projecting lean-to porch with a doorway framed by a moulded architrave facing north, and a 3-light window in the front wall of the porch. On either side of the porch are tall round-arched windows, also with moulded architraves, capitals, and keystones, as well as margin lights and circular glazing in the heads. Above the porch, there are three similar lower windows forming a band, and a panel displaying the chapel’s name and date in raised lettering. The gable apex is adorned with an arcade of stepped blind arches in plaster work with roughcast infill. The chapel consists of four bays, each featuring a round-arched window, and there is a lower school room at the rear.

Inside, the chapel is a simple, single space. The internal walls have a lined out plaster finish above tongue and groove dado panelling. The coved plaster ceiling is decorated with deep moulding surrounding boarded central panels that contain enriched plaster rosettes. Original pews are present, including benches along the walls, and there are two outer aisles. At the west end, there are reeded pilasters supporting a moulded arch with a panelled tympanum above the dais, which has chamfered oak doors leading to the schoolroom. Beneath the dais is a baptistery. A central lectern is positioned on a platform, but there is no set fawr, as the chapel did not have deacons.