Capel Bethlehem including attached vestry block is a Grade II listed building in the Swansea local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 7 January 2000. Chapel.
Capel Bethlehem including attached vestry block
- WRENN ID
- graven-wicket-ochre
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Swansea
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 7 January 2000
- Type
- Chapel
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
This is a classical-style chapel, built in the 18th century. It is constructed of coursed rock-faced stone with rusticated dressings, and has a replaced tile roof. The front gable has three bays, with the central bay recessed under a glorification arch that rises through the cornice of a pedimented gable. The central bay has ashlar dressings with moulded capitals and keystones, containing a pair of round-headed doorways with double panelled doors. Above the doorways are a pair of round-headed windows with geometrical tracery and a sill band. A white marble tablet, supported by two moulded corbels, is set within the glorification arch and records the building's date. The outer bays have tall round-headed windows with similar tracery and sill bands, and a small vented oculus sits beneath the apex.
The left side wall, which has three windows, is roughcast and features a sill band and round-headed windows. A lower, gabled projection, pebble-dashed in finish, extends from the rear of the building, housing a deacon’s room. The right side wall mirrors the left with similar openings. Attached to the rear is a low wing, which forms a later vestry and schoolroom, built of snecked rock-faced stone with a tile roof. Its gable-end front has a central doorway, formerly sheltered by a gabled porch, and a pair of round-headed windows near the apex. Round-headed windows on the left and right sides, as well as those of the side walls, are now blocked.
The entrance vestibule contains two round-headed windows with coloured glass, separated by a central wall with an arched opening. The doorways, including those to the stairs on the right and left, feature overlights and panelled doors. The main chapel has a moulded cornice and a boarded panel ceiling with a large central ceiling rose. A raked gallery, lower towards the rear behind the pulpit, runs along four sides and is supported by tapering cast iron columns with stylised leaf capitals. The front of the gallery is decorated with ornate fretwork incorporating a frieze of S-shaped scrolls. Behind the pulpit is a moulded 4-centred arch framing a recess that houses the organ, which was installed in 1930. The pulpit itself, added in the mid-20th century, has blind round-arch panels and is flanked by steps with square moulded newels and turned balusters. A set fawr features a panelled dado, cast iron panels with scrolls and foliage, and scribed plaster walls. The main floor is ramped, and the original seating is retained, with numbered pews and moulded pew ends with rounded tops.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
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