Ivor English Congregational Church including forecourt walls is a Grade II listed building in the Merthyr Tydfil local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 22 August 1975. Church.
Ivor English Congregational Church including forecourt walls
- WRENN ID
- crumbling-steel-moss
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Constituency
- Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare MP: Gerald Jones (Lab)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 22 August 1975
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Ivor English Congregational Church including forecourt walls, Dowlais
- OS grid reference
- SO 066 079
- Coordinates
- 51.76214, -3.35371
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
Ivor English Congregational Church, built in 1860, features a chapel constructed of painted stucco with a slate roof that has deep eaves and a pediment gable. The building has a two-storey gable front with a moulded pediment, a frieze below adorned with evenly-spaced console brackets, and a three-bay front that includes a moulded cornice over the ground floor, a plinth, and Ionic pilasters—four on the ground floor and two on the upper floor. The gable displays a large arch-headed plaque stating '1860 Ivor English Independent Chapel'.
The upper floor is fitted with arched windows that have moulded surrounds, keystones, impost blocks, and an impost band. The central triple window is flanked by narrower, slightly shorter sidelights, with the centre light matching the size of those in the side bays. On the ground floor, there is a square-headed four-pane window in a moulded surround, with sill brackets on either side of the central arched doorway. The doorway features a moulded arch with a keystone supported by crude Ionic half columns and has double boarded doors. The church has a raised plinth and four-bay side walls that contain very long arched lights, an impost band, and brackets in the eaves frieze. At the rear, there is a vestry or hall with a window at each end.
Inside, the walls are plastered, and there is a three-sided gallery supported by seven iron columns, with a deep cove under the cornice and a painted panelled front featuring alternating long and square panels, along with a central clock. The box pews are painted and arranged in three blocks. A later 19th-century platform includes stairs on either side, with turned balusters and large turned newels topped with ball finials. The inner stair rails extend along the platform front to a panelled pulpit that has an arched-panelled front made of contrasting coloured wood. Behind the pulpit is boarding under an 1895 organ gallery, which is adorned with an ornate iron rail. The organ recess features a broad arch supported by short pilasters, housing a large Peter Conacher two-manual pipe organ. The raked gallery pews are painted with large panels on their backs and shaped bench ends. The moulded cornice complements a ceiling that has a central rose within two moulded rings, divided by ribs.
Local climate
Ivor English Congregational Church including forecourt walls sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,270 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 94% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 85% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 54 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 94% of listed buildings. Of these, 30 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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