Capel Y Graig including attached schoolroom and forecourt railings

Capel Y Graig (Rock Chapel)

A chapel of rubble stone with hipped slate roof and paired brackets to the eaves, founded in 1670 and rebuilt and enlarged in 1791, then again greatly enlarged in 1827 under the ministry of M. Jones. The building was significantly modified in the 20th century.

The chapel's six-bay front features a raised plinth and displays a sophisticated composition. The centrepiece comprises two long arched windows with arch-rings, separated by a datestone. These are flanked by recessed gabled porches with boarded doors and traceried fanlights, followed by square-headed short gallery lights set slightly further out. The outermost bays contain longer square-headed ground floor windows. The recessed heads of the outer windows are slightly cambered. Voussoirs and keystones are of cut grey Cilgerran stone; the porch voussoirs are flush without keystones. Inner doors are 4-panel with square heads. All windows have been renewed in the 20th century with coloured leaded glass replacing the original small-paned glazing, and sills are cemented.

The end walls feature very unusual external stone stairs to the gallery, not bonded into the masonry. The left stair has slate-slab coping and an added lean-to enclosed porch at its top with a boarded door. The right stair terminates in double 2-panel gallery doors with voussoirs and keystone. Beyond each stair, one window appears on each floor: a square 12-pane window over a long 12-pane window, both with voussoirs and keystones. The rear wall contains two long arched windows of 32 panes with Gothic intersecting bars in the heads and flush voussoirs without keystones. The bracketed eaves are not continued to the rear, and a brick outbuilding stands to the rear right.

Interior

The chapel contains a large interior space dominated by a three-sided gallery supported on cast-iron columns, one of which is dated 1827. The gallery front is painted in a grained finish with square panels and moulded surrounds, beneath a plain cornice and deep white frieze. The curved gallery angles meet at the centre where a clock inscribed "B. Morris Newcastle Emlyn" is positioned. The plaster ceiling is of exceptional quality, featuring a double circle around the centre with unusually large moulded plaster decoration composed of rich plant-scroll motifs and flowers forming an overall circular form. A second double circle appears further out, touching a double border at the sides, with small circles between the large circle and border at the ends.

The pews are of painted grained timber arranged in two main blocks facing the pulpit, with rear pews raked. Three additional raked blocks stand each side: the first two face inward, whilst the third features concave-curved pews in the rear corners. All pews are panelled with stopped chamfers, possibly dating to the mid-19th century. Similar raked pews occupy the gallery, also curved in the corners.

The pulpit stands at the focal point with a painted grained shallow-curved platform front. The centre narrow pulpit has a panel and balustrading on each side over horizontal panels, with turned balusters terminated at each end by a concave curve and turned newel with ball finial. Five tall large panels form the platform base, with a concave curved piece at each end. Curving side stairs with turned balusters and thin newels provide access. Behind the pulpit is a convex plaster niche with a moulded arch on brackets and moulded impost band, continuing back into the window reveal on each side. The Set Fawr is enclosed by panelling continued across from the pew blocks on each side.

Schoolroom

An attached schoolroom stands alongside the external stairs to the right, at right angles to the chapel, built of rubble stone with a hipped close-eaved roof. It features horned 6-pane sash windows with narrow outer panes, stone voussoirs, and slate sills. The end wall facing the road has a square basement entry and sash window above, not aligned and offset to the left. The left side wall contains one sash. The right side wall has a 4-panel door to the left and two sashes. The rear has one sash. Inside, the schoolroom has a boarded dado, bench seats, and a 20th-century lowered ceiling. The basement door opens into a low space with a sloping bedrock floor.

Forecourt

The forecourt is enclosed by rubble walls with slate copings and low late 19th-century Gothic cast-iron railings with two sets of gates. The railings feature column shafts and trefoil cusping beneath the top rail and, reversed, over the bottom rail, with florid finials on a row of half-circles over the top rail. Paired gates display a similar pattern over plain dog-bars. Thin cast-iron panelled posts with cornices and curved pyramid caps support the railings.