Peniel Welsh Presbyterian Chapel

The Peniel Welsh Presbyterian Chapel was built in 1910, displaying a well-designed Gothic style. It is constructed of snecked, rough-dressed stone with sandstone dressings, and has slate roofs with slightly oversailing eaves and tiled ridges. The west front is a symmetrical showpiece, featuring a tall gabled central bay with a parapetted gable topped by a Celtic cross. A stepped-up vestibule is defined by twin ogee arches designed in an early 14th-century Decorated style. The vestibule features compound piers with fine naturalistic foliage capitals and labels with crocketted foliate finials to ogee apexes, with similar decorative treatment to the central and outer applied shafts. Above a moulded cill band is a large four-light window with flowing tracery, set within a widely-splayed pointed arch with a moulded label and complex naturalistic foliate stops. Full-height flanking buttresses are stepped towards the top. The upper gable projects slightly above the window, displaying a heavy moulding with five foliate bosses. Lower, storied semi-octagonal projections with hipped roofs flank the central bay; these are stair turrets, providing access to an internal gallery. Tudor-arched entrances with double-moulded jambs are set into the central faces, and simple two-light arched leaded windows are located on the flanking sides, with similar windows on the upper floor. Within the vestibule are twin entrances with shouldered arches and ribbed oak doors, flanking a central dedication plaque sculpted in sandstone. Further entrances of a similar design are found on the return walls. The north and south sides are plain, each with five windows on both the ground and gallery floors. Gallery windows are of three lights, leaded with Tudor-arched heads and wooden mullions. Ground floor windows are similar, but with flat arches, and stepped buttresses divide the bays.

A flush hall range adjoins the rear of the chapel, displaying simple one, two, and three-light mullioned windows matching the earlier style. On the north side of the hall range are two large modern windows on the upper floor. External bridges provide access to the upper level on both sides, the southern bridge accessed via a long, simply-railed ramp, leading to an enclosed porch. A narrow passage runs beneath the building, around the irregular rear, which faces a high revettment and features simple windows. The chapel is approached by a majestic flight of twenty curved sandstone steps. The interior was not available for inspection in February 1996.