Capel Bethel including forecourt walls, gates and railings

This is a large, early 19th century chapel with a forecourt enclosed by walls, gates, and railings. The chapel itself is constructed of coursed rock-faced rubble stone with dressings in green sandstone, topped with concrete roof tiles. The prominent front features a broad, pedimented design with a moulded pediment and finial. A roundel is set within the pediment, and the front is divided into three bays by thin pilasters with ashlar quoins. Windows are arched and feature 2-light timber tracery, with a stepped triplet above the centre and long single windows to either side, all framed with ashlar pilasters and keystones. The front is fronted by paired arched doors set within three ashlar piers, impost cornices, and ashlar voussoirs with keystones. A double string runs along the front, with a third serving as the sill course beneath the centre windows. The pediment is finished with a vase finial and a louvred ashlar roundel, inscribed with ‘Bethel Adeiladwyd 1818 Helaethwyd 1850 MDCCCLXXX’. The double cambered-headed doors have 20th-century cladding, with crescent overlights containing roundels; the door jambs are inset with cast-iron columns with shaft-rings and florid capitals. A foundation stone, laid by H. H. Vivian in 1879, is set between the walls. The side elevations are of rubble stone construction, two stories in height with five windows each. The lower windows are cambered-headed, while the upper windows are arched with stone voussoirs. A single-story rear vestry extends from the rear. An ornate iron railing, set on a stone coped wall, is attached to the chapel’s front right corner.

The interior is notable for its size and detail. A four-sided gallery is supported by five rows of fluted iron columns topped with leaf-scroll caps. The gallery is elaborately detailed, with curved angles and a drop-down section behind the pulpit. A moulded cornice runs along the walls, supported by widely-spaced paired brackets, beneath a frontal of long panels between pilasters with moulded caps, inset arched panels featuring late 18th-century style husk-drop ornament. The long panels also include inset pierced cast-iron panels of a Gothic trefoil pattern, set above plain timber panels, with detailing curving at the angles. The interior features three blocks of pine pews, with a ‘Set fawr’ section featuring cast iron stanchions. The pulpit is elaborately detailed, with delicate timber balusters and a serpentine-curved platform. A large organ, built in 1932 by H and H Whiteley of Chester, is a prominent feature, having a panelled base, a large pie-front, canted sides, and two round front towers, along with painted pipes and extra pipe cases in the angles of the galleries. The ceiling is ornamented with a cornice, plaster border, diagonally-boarded timber border with six square vents, and a rectangular plaster centre divided into two panels with diagonal ribs, fine centre acanthus roses, and scrollwork rings. Behind the chapel stairs lead to a diaconate room, a ministers room, and a schoolroom across the back.