Penuel Presbyterian Church of Wales including forecourt walls and railings

Penuel Presbyterian Church of Wales

This is a classical-style chapel dating from the late 18th century, with a symmetrical lateral-entry facade of two storeys. The building is rendered, lined and whitened under slate roofs with rusticated quoin strips on a rubble plinth.

The main facade features round-headed openings in rusticated surrounds with long square-ended voussoirs. Two centrally placed doorways have boarded doors and fan-lights with radial glazing. Between these at mid-level are two windows with horned sashes and margin glazing. A square stone tablet set above and between them bears the inscription 'Penuel' along with the dates 1776, 1826 and 1886, though the tablet is partly eroded. A wooden panel is fixed to the wall at low level between the doorways. Two shorter windows in a similar style, positioned to the outer sides of the doorways, light the gallery.

To the right of the main entrance is a lower range containing a vestry and a stable beneath. The vestry is slightly set back and has a planked door on the left under a multi-pane overlight, and two 6-over-6-pane horned sashes to the right, all with flat heads. The doorway is reached by stone steps bounded by the front enclosure wall. The stable beneath is entered through a wide opening in the enclosure wall, which has a segmental stone head and double planked doors.

The enclosure wall is of snecked stone with chamfered stone copings, supporting two-tier iron railings with fleur-de-lis finials, arched heads beneath the top rails and scrolls beneath the mid-rails. Two gates in a similar style lead to the chapel doorways.

The north gable end of the vestry is rendered and lined, slightly faceted about the centre line. It has three horned sash windows with flat heads of different sizes and irregularly set. The south gable end of the chapel is abutted by another building. The rear western side is cut steeply into the hillside and is of rubble stone, three windows and two storeys with round-headed windows containing sashes with margin glazing to the upper storey and segmental-headed windows below. The vestry has brick quoins to the rear and windows with segmental heads and brick surrounds.

Interior

Small square vestibules inside the entrances have stairs to the outer sides leading to the gallery, and half-glazed double doors with stained glass leading into the chapel. The chapel has a lateral arrangement with the pulpit set against the front facade, opposite a canted three-sided gallery on narrow cast iron columns with rings.

The wooden gallery front features recessed panels with mouldings above and below and a central clock. Mounted above the clock is a pipe organ with a six-panel front flanked and surmounted by balustrading with circular motifs at the angles. Four tiers of panelled pews occupy the gallery, with panelled pews below.

The square-fronted pulpit has small panels and dog-leg stairs to either side with open balustrading and decorative newel posts. A set fawr (tester) has small square recessed panels below and short turned balusters above with ball finials at the angles. Wood panelling to the rear of the pulpit turns at right angles at the ends to form the sides of the entrance vestibules, which have flat wooden ceilings. Heavily moulded plaster coving with dentils and small flower bosses runs around the room, above a wood panelled ceiling surround. Three plaster ceiling roses are present, the central one being larger and highly ornate with foliage and flower decoration.

The vestry to the north has wainscot panelling and moulded coving. Below is a stable block with a segmental-vaulted entrance bay. The stables have rubble stone walls, a concrete-covered floor and 20th-century wooden ceiling joists. The partitions no longer survive. A planked door to the rear left has steps leading down.