Capel Celyn Memorial Chapel

Capel Celyn Memorial Chapel is a Grade II* listed building constructed from local rubble stone, featuring some dressed Arenig granite blocks, and topped with a monopitch Blaenau Ffestiniog slate roof. The chapel has a simple geometric design, with walls that rise from the low entrance front overlooking the lake to a curved end with a high parapet. This end wraps around an angled full-height glazed panel that illuminates memorial stones inside, facing the site of the original chapel in the lost village of Capel Celyn. A small cross is positioned at one end of the high curving wall. The side walls step down at their lower end and enclose a terraced area that overlooks the lake. From this terrace, steps lead down to a slate path that encircles the chapel, bordered by a rubble retaining wall leading to the garden of remembrance above. The terrace is paved with riven slate, continuing the flooring from inside the chapel, and a further flight of steps descends to the lake shore.

Inside, the chapel features a simple design with bare stone walls, a slate slab floor, and exposed stained roof timbers. There are two steps leading up to the curved end, where three finely lettered Aberllefenni slates, inscribed by R.L. Gapper, commemorate those buried at the original chapel, as well as the names of individuals re-buried at Llanycil and Trawsfynydd, and two men who lost their lives in the Second World War and were buried overseas. Additionally, there is a line from the poem Y Diwygiwr by Ben Bowen (1878-1903), whose poem ‘Pantycelyn’ won second prize at the Liverpool National Eisteddfod in 1900: ‘Yn dwfn swyn ei fynwes o/caf lonydd caf le i huno’.