Salem Calvinistic Methodist Chapel

The Salem Calvinistic Methodist Chapel is a Classical-style building dating from the 18th century. It is constructed with pebbledash on rubble masonry, with stucco dressings. The roof is slate, with deep verges and bargeboards supported on brackets. The three-bay front features a pedimented centre bay with brackets and a plain entablature. Pilasters run up to gallery level, supporting three round arched windows; the central window is broader and has moulded arch rings and pilasters, along with a sill band. The windows have small panes with sidebars. Pediments on consoles top the square-headed ground-floor windows, which have moulded architraves, and matching glazing is above. Flanking the main facade are staircase bays, again with deep eaves on brackets and channelled end pilasters. The gallery windows have lugged architraves and small-paned sidebar glazing. Advanced, single-storey entrance wings project from the ground floor, with hipped slate roofs, miniature pediments, brackets, and channelled stuccoed elevations. These wings have single round arched windows with sidebar glazing, set within a Tuscan surround of a blocking course and entablature on pilasters. The return elevations echo this detailing with an entablature on Tuscan columns. Panelled double doors are set below deep rectangular fanlights.

A raised forecourt lies behind the chapel, enclosed by walls of squared coursed rubble with a plinth. Square end and gate piers have moulded caps with ball finials, accompanied by contemporary iron gates and railings. A stone staircase leads from the street to the centre of the forecourt.

A later schoolroom adjoins the left side of the chapel. It is pebbledashed with stuccoed dressings and has a steeply pitched slate roof with a central gable, deep eaves on brackets, channelled end pilasters, and a plinth. It features three windows below the gable, with a tall, central round arched window and pilasters and lugged architraves to the flanking windows. The windows have "Victorian" sash glazing and a common sill. An unsympathetic vent pipe has been inserted. A porch with a gabled slate roof and channelled stucco adorns the right end elevation; it features cavetto jambs, panelled double doors, and a bull's-eye window to the gable end. A contemporary forecourt wall and railings with dogbars are also present.

The interior is semicircular with galleries. The ceiling is half-domed and ribbed, with a flat section incorporating an ornate ventilator panel; an impost band runs to the gallery. A raked gallery features a curved, panelled front with dentils and pilasters. Cast iron columns have annulets and composite capitals. Depressed arcading defines the deacon’s seats. The pulpit exhibits rich Italianate decoration, including fluted square newels and balusters. A full entablature, set on fluted Corinthian pilasters with bases, surrounds a moulded depressed arch with panelled soffits and impost blocks to the organ chamber. Angular staircase lobbies feature splat balusters to the gallery stairs.