English Baptist Church and walled forecourt is a Grade II listed building in the Caerphilly local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 17 December 1998. Church. 1 related planning application.
English Baptist Church and walled forecourt
- WRENN ID
- vast-loft-bistre
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Caerphilly
- Constituency
- Newport West and Islwyn MP: Ruth Jones (Lab)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 17 December 1998
- Type
- Church
- Address
- English Baptist Church and walled forecourt, Abercarn
- OS grid reference
- ST 217 941
- Coordinates
- 51.64091, -3.1324
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
The English Baptist Church, built in the late 19th century, features a striking main gable end front made of tooled snecked stone, with wings constructed from snecked rockfaced stone and a lower ground floor of giant rockfaced blocks. Some areas have painted ashlar dressings, while others are rockfaced. The roof is covered with Welsh slate and includes kneelers, decorative bargeboards, and gable finials.
The three-storey gable end façade showcases a large pointed-arched window at the chapel level, which has been modified to include a glazed tile panel at its base, along with a triple lancet vestibule window below. Above, there is a large boarded trefoil apex opening. The lower ground floor features a round-arched entrance doorway flanked by round-headed windows with deep sills, and the building is accentuated by prominent quoins.
Steps from the front flagged courtyard rise on either side to two setback gabled staircase cross wings, each with a shouldered doorway topped by a roundel set within an arch, and paired lancets above. The wall fronting the chapel forecourt is constructed of rubble with rockfaced dressings and saddleback coping, stepping up to the right and ending in a tooled pyramidal capstone. The central entrance is marked by heavy rockfaced piers with similar capstones and a decorative lamp arch, featuring double iron gates.
Inside, the church has a deep gallery on three sides, adorned with decorative cast iron panels, a moulded wooden rail, and a deep base with tiers of moulding, supported by six twisted cast-iron columns. The walls are finished with scored render and a boarded dado. At one end, there is a reredos arch of moulded plaster, featuring a round arch with pilasters set within a rectangular frame, and a separate curved wooden gallery in front that houses the organ console, flanked by pipes. Below the gallery is the pulpit, accompanied by a baptistry enclosure bounded by a wooden rail with decorative cast-iron railings. The ceiling is flat and boarded, divided into panels with hexagonal ventilators. While some glazing has been renewed, most of it retains Art Nouveau style motifs. The vestibule enclosure includes descending steps leading to the entrance on the lower ground floor. Additionally, there is a former vestry and Sunday School with double doors on the side, which is also used during marriage services, along with rear back stairs, an organ passage, and the pastor's vestry.
Local climate
English Baptist Church and walled forecourt sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,000 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 80% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 56% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 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
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- 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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