Bethel Calvinistic Methodist Chapel

Bethel Calvinistic Methodist Chapel

This chapel is built of rockfaced grey limestone with Bath stone dressings and a slate roof. Dating to 1904, when it was opened by Mrs W E Lloyd, it displays an unusual combination of late Gothic design with Italianate turrets flanking the gable.

The two-storey front facade features an ashlar-framed pediment with a cross finial and a pedimented plaque. The first floor is dominated by a large Perpendicular Gothic 5-light centre window with ashlar panels positioned below each light and linked by flush ashlar bands to single depressed-arched windows on either side, with hoodmoulds similarly linked. The ground floor contains a centre Tudor-arched doorway with a flat hoodmould and sunk spandrel panels, flanked by flat-headed 2-light late Gothic windows with linked hoodmoulds. The doors are double boarded with cast-iron hinges, and all windows have leaded lights. Framing the facade are pairs of tall Bath stone columns on high plinths that rise almost to the window-head height of the ground floor. The columns are carved with Gothic foliage capitals and support a cornice at the level of the pediment base. The plinths carry inscribed stones recording the 1904 opening and commemorating John Howard (1845–91). Above the cornice stand ashlar Italianate turrets with arched openings on each side, angle shafts, cornices, and slate pyramid roofs.

The two-storey sides feature 4-window ranges of ashlar 2-light windows with leaded lights. Upper windows have flat heads with hoodmoulds and recessed segmental-pointed lights, whilst lower windows have square-headed lights recessed under cambered arches. The rubble stone rear wall contains a large Perpendicular Gothic style 4-light traceried window. Bargeboards run along the gable, and the roof ridge supports two conical-capped metal ventilators.

The interior is richly ornamented. A 3-sided gallery with small canted sections at the corners is fronted in timber with contrasted-grained panels arranged in groups of three—a square panel flanked by longer panels—beneath pierced cast-ironwork of slightly Art Nouveau scroll design. Fluted pilasters separate each section, surmounted by a cornice and a long painted plaster or lincrusta frieze of floral scroll design. The gallery stands on painted cast-iron columns with Corinthian capitals.

The ornate ceiling features a deep cove on each side rising over a corbelled cornice, decorated with raised plaster rectangles. The main ceiling combines timber-boarded and plastered sections divided by moulded timber ribs, with a boarded border on each side and seven strips running across. The centre strip contains three plaster panels, the middle one featuring a plaster rose and the outer ones with decorative plaster frames matching those on the cove. The three outer strips each display two large plaster panels with similar raised decorative frames and a thin boarded strip between containing two small plaster roses. The boarding is laid diagonally.

The seating comprises three blocks of numbered pitch-pine pews with quatrefoil-pierced bench ends, plus a Set Fawr (large single pew) facing the pulpit and inward-facing pews either side of it. The pulpit platform is constructed in pitch-pine Gothic with steps on each side and open frontal balustrades featuring turned columns and cusped trefoil heads. The newels are square and panelled with turned finials. The platform spans five bays with the pulpit stepped forward across three bays and has a panelled base. Behind the pulpit stands a large segmental-pointed recess containing a 4-light stained glass window of 1903 by S Evans of Smethwick, inscribed "Suffer the little children" and commissioned in memory of Walter Lloyd. The entrance lobby features two 4-panel doors and a centre 3-light window with coloured glass, the leadwork outlining Gothic cusped heads.