Hen Gapel, including walls and railings to forecourt is a Grade II listed building in the Snowdonia National Park local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 12 April 1996. Chapel.
Hen Gapel, including walls and railings to forecourt
- WRENN ID
- grim-flue-snow
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Snowdonia National Park
- Constituency
- Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP: Liz Saville Roberts (PC)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 12 April 1996
- Type
- Chapel
- Address
- Hen Gapel, including walls and railings to forecourt, Dolhendre, Bala, Llanuwchllyn, Gwynedd
- OS grid reference
- SH 868 310
- Coordinates
- 52.86471, -3.68224
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
Hen Gapel is a large chapel built in an eclectic Victorian Renaissance style. It features a gabled front made of snecked grey stone with bathstone dressings, while the sides and rear are constructed from rubble, topped with a slate roof. The gabled front has a classical design, resembling a pedimented facade with Tuscan pilasters. A keystoned 'glorification arch' breaks into the pediment, and there is a geometric finial with an obelisk on top. The outer bays of the front have tall keystoned arched windows with simple tracery. The central bay is divided by a pilaster and includes two keystoned arched windows at the upper level, with two keystoned arched entrance doorways below. These doorways have camber-headed double-leaf doors with simple tracery in the overlights. Above the entrances are inset sandstone dedication plaques that display the name Yr Hen Gapel and the foundation dates of 1746, 1810, and 1871. The east elevation has four tall arched windows, while the rear features two tall arched windows flanked by two additional arched windows at a lower level. The west elevation, which is rendered, has windows on two levels.
The chapel is set back from the lane and is surrounded by a forecourt with low rubble walls topped with tooled sandstone copings and decorative railings. It has central iron gates with slender iron piers and finials on top.
Inside, the chapel remains almost unaltered, featuring a boarded and panelled ceiling. A gallery runs along three sides, supported by iron columns, and has a balcony front with fretted ironwork. There is a set fawr with an arched reredos, and the seating consists of pitch pine box pews.
Local climate
Hen Gapel, including walls and railings to forecourt sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,260 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 86% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 50 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 92% 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
- No sale records on file
- 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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