Aberfan Calvinistic Methodist Chapel

The Aberfan Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, built in 1876, is constructed of rock-faced pennant stone with sandstone dressings, and has a slate roof. The front of the building is in a simple classical style, featuring a pedimental gable. It is two storeys high with a three-bay facade, and the first floor has rusticated pilasters above long-and-short quoins to the outer margins of the ground floor. A plaque inscribed "Aberfan" is set into the gable, flanked by a pair of roundels, with a blank quatrefoil panel above. A stucco band runs between the storeys, and there’s a cornice above the second-floor windows. The upper storey has arched windows, with a single window to either side of a central triplet, the openings linked by architrave surrounds with keyblocks and moulded inposts. The ground floor has flat-headed windows with rusticated voussoirs, and a large arched entrance door with sandstone pilasters, voussoirs, and a keystone. The door is a pair of four-panelled wooden doors with a radiating-bar fanlight above. Original horned sash windows with marginal glazing bars are present throughout, with coloured glass in the central triplet and fanlight. The sides of the building are plain and rendered, with a stucco band, arched windows above, and flat-headed windows below.

The interior, also dating from 1876, features a three-sided gallery with curved angles supported by seven thin, cast-iron columns, which have plain capitals; these columns were made by J P Biddle of Merthyr. The gallery front has high-quality painted graining, consisting of long horizontal panels separated by pilasters. The long panels have inset framed, vertically boarded panels, and the pilasters have arch-ended panels and triple brackets as capitals. A centre clock is framed by similar pilasters. A painted cornice runs below the gallery, with a moulded top rail, and a lower cornice with paired brackets aligned with the pilasters. The gallery pews are of pitch-pine, with panelled, boarded backs and simple bench-ends that are curved at the angles. Similar pews are in the two aisles, but with more ornamental bench-ends. A small timber pulpit with side stairs featuring turned balusters and ball-finial newels projects slightly from a platform, with a panelled front and a dwarf balustrade over the panels to the sides. A large, later 20th-century, wall-mounted pipe organ is positioned on the rear wall, erected in memory of the 1966 Aberfan Disaster. The plaster ceiling lacks a central rose, which was removed late in the 20th century, but retains small, stucco roundels to the corners and above the triplet window. A simple painted banded stucco cornice is also present. The entrance lobby has a central window with coloured glass and four-panel doors.