Temple United Reformed Church

Temple United Reformed Church

This chapel, constructed in 1899, is built of coursed rock-faced stone with pale stone dressings, under slate roofs with boarded eaves. Three conical vents sit on the roof, though some are missing.

The front elevation presents a two-storey gable with three windows. A central gabled porch with finial and short buttresses featuring offsets frames the main entrance. The pointed arched doorway is approached by stone steps and contains double panelled doors beneath an overlight with Y-tracery. The arch dressing is inscribed with "Gospel/Temple" and a panel in the porch apex reads "1899". Above stands a large three-light pointed window with Y-tracery and decorated margin glazing. Smaller two-light windows in similar style flank both the main window and porch. In the apex sit a pair of heavily dressed lancets containing louvres with a continuous sill band. Large octagonal pinnacles with pyramidal copings and weather vanes rise from clasping square pilasters at the front angles. Between the ground floor windows and plinth are several foundation stones, partially eroded and dated 17th April 1899. Short walls extending from each pilaster contain pointed arched doorways.

The east side of the chapel features three narrow pointed windows containing four-over-four-pane sash windows with margin glazing beneath Y-glazed overlights. To the left, where the chapel meets the vestry, a three-window lean-to contains flat-headed sashes with margin glazing—the rightmost being narrower. A round-headed doorway with panelled door and fanlight terminates this section. Similar windows appear above the lean-to, rising to the eaves. The vestry has a hipped roof and projects eastward. Its east end displays three pointed windows matching those on the chapel's east side, whilst the south side contains a pair of similar windows. A rendered kitchen block with hipped roof and round-headed doorway to the north occupies the southeast angle. The chapel's west side holds four pointed windows and a small boiler projection. The vestry's inset west end contains four similar pointed windows.

Internally, an entrance vestibule contains panelled doors leading left and right into the chapel, separated by a square window with pink margin glazing. Stairs rise on both sides. A gallery at the chapel's rear is supported by a single round cast iron column with scrolled and foliate capital. The straight gallery front consists of openwork iron panels decorated with uprights and circles, above wooden planking. Three tiers of pews sit within the gallery, behind which stands the organ. At the chapel's front, a wide round arch with moulded surround and vermiculated keystone leads to a domed apse. The arch is supported on fluted and gilded pilasters with a panelled soffit decorated with gilded dentils. The apse features a cornice of gilded dentils. Two panelled doors connect the apse to the vestry. An octagonal pulpit, offset to the left in Anglican style, sits before the archway jamb. It features open ironwork panels matching the gallery front above wooden panels. A door to the left of the pulpit accesses service rooms and the vestry.

The roof employs six-bay collar trusses, boarded above the collars and decorated with wood-planked panels and iron openwork vents. Long steel rods with scrolled top ends, supported by large scrolled brackets, have been added for reinforcement. The chapel interior is lined with wainscot panelling topped by a frieze of blind quatrefoils. Three banks of pews, wood-planked with decorated bench ends, are arranged with those to the west angled towards the pulpit. Low screens front the outer pews, featuring open ironwork matching the pulpit style. Pink margin glazing appears throughout the windows. A brass plaque behind the pulpit commemorates the Reverend Benjamin Davies-Williams, pastor in 1880-1883 and 1886-1916.

The vestry contains a panelled ceiling with diagonal planking, lower to the left and right where supported on round metal columns. A small kitchen adjoins to the left rear, with a doorway to the left side.