Gwydir Uchaf Chapel

Gwydir Uchaf Chapel

A rectangular gabled chapel built in restrained 17th-century Gothic style, constructed of fine sandstone ashlar on a rubble base with decorative alternate slatestone quoins on the east gable. The original roof comprises small, thick, graded slates with a stone ridge, overhanging eaves, and exposed rafter ends. The gable parapets are coped with rounded kneelers, and an ovolo-moulded string-course runs at the base. A simple gabled bellcote at the west end contains a bell dated 1752.

The south side has two large windows, each with three plain lights beneath a segmental arched head. The jambs feature a continuous recessed chamfer with splayed stops decorated with a raised heart motif. The frames and mullions are of oak, ovolo-moulded and formerly plastered to imitate stone, with leaded glazing. The north side contains a round-arched doorway with continuous ovolo and ogee moulding, splayed stops decorated with lozenge motifs, and an original studded oak door with applied border, projecting Jacobean-type impost and key motifs, and contemporary decorative strap hinges and latch. Above the doorway is an inset stone panel bearing raised letters SRWB (for Sir Richard Wynn Baronet) and the date 1673, contained within a shield and flanked by lozenge decoration. To the left is a window matching those on the south side, and to the right of the door is a 2-light window with flat wooden lintel and mullion as before. The west window is similar. The east window is a large tracery window with a pointed arched head containing four lights with segmental heads and eight plain upper lights above, with mullions and reveals as on the south side.

The interior comprises a continuous nave and chancel with a collegiate liturgical arrangement of box pews flanking a central aisle. A gallery at the west end features a moulded handrail and turned balusters to a full-width balustrade decorated with lozenge panels to the centre and at ends. The balustrade is supported on a massive beam enriched with carved and polychromed strapwork decoration bearing a central shield with carved monogram and the date 1673. The gallery is accessed by a staircase of two straight flights against the north and west walls, with faceted strings, turned balusters, and carved square newels with geometric finials and pendants. This may be an earlier domestic stair re-used at the time of building.

Contemporary softwood panelling covers all walls to mostly three-quarter height, with a moulded cornice and small plain panels; the panelled dado at the west end may be later. Box pews line the north and south walls with plain fitted benching. The pulpit, positioned centrally on the south wall, contains some bevelled 18th-century panels and may have been rearranged at that date, as may the adjacent reading desk. The corners of the wall-panelling are adorned with finely-carved limewood cherubs, while slightly inferior oak figures of late 17th-century type are attached to the pulpit. A raised platform beneath the east window formerly contained the altar and is enclosed by contemporary oak communion rails with turned balusters and square corner posts with a central gate. Above the pulpit on the south wall is a framed contemporary hatchment depicting the Royal arms of the Stuarts with the monogram CR of King Charles II. A finely carved cartouche with wreath decoration and a supporting cherub figure adorns the upper west wall.

The 4-bay arched-braced collar roof is notable for its fine naive painted decoration consisting of a biblical figurative cycle of theological complexity. Baroque angel figures flank central depictions of the Trinity and the Tetragrammaton, all set against a fictive celestial background executed in glue or size medium on the boarded wagon vault. Two-dimensional painted angel figures are cut from panels at the ends of the principals at wall plate level, holding scrolled texts of the Great Doxology. The primitive execution and bold composition parallel contemporary examples at Staunton Harold, Leicestershire (1653) and Bromfield Priory, Shropshire (1672). The floor is flagged throughout, with a diagonally-laid section in front of the altar plinth.