Former School-room to rear of chapel is a Grade II listed building in the Torfaen local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 9 February 1995. A 19th century School-room.

Former School-room to rear of chapel

WRENN ID
brooding-gargoyle-crow
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Torfaen
Constituency
Torfaen MP: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Lab)
Country
Wales
Date first listed
9 February 1995
Type
School-room
Address
Former School-room to rear of chapel, Blaenavon
OS grid reference
SO 253 088
Coordinates
51.77324, -3.08372
Source
Cadw listing

Also on this page: sale history · EPC · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The former school-room located at the rear of the chapel is a classical building featuring a three-bay gable facade, which is rendered with stone dressings and topped with a slate roof. The facade is divided by pilasters at the ground floor and gallery levels. All openings are adorned with semi-circular, moulded stone arches and chamfered jambs, while the windows have angled stone sills. A flight of steps leads to the ground floor entrance, which has three narrow doorways. Each doorway is fitted with panelled, glass and wooden double doors that are set back, each topped with a semi-circular fanlight featuring stained glass. Flanking the entrance are stained glass windows, each framed with pilaster architraves, and their sills are supported by pairs of console brackets. A string course connects the keystones of the doors and windows, forming the base of the entablature that features a dentilated cornice.

On the first floor, there is a tripartite central window with a pedimented keystone and pilaster jambs, flanked by two additional windows with similar features. Above these windows is a panel with curvilinear decoration and the date 1888 in relief, along with remnants of the original name of the chapel. An entablature marks the start of the roof pitch, and a simple wooden barge board under the verges is supported by four brackets, with a semi-circular opening at its apex.

The return facade consists of five bays across two storeys, rendered with a dressed stone plinth. The openings here feature the outline of keystones and arches traced into the render. The ground floor includes one door and five windows, all with cambered arches and stone sills supported by pairs of brackets. The gallery floor has five semi-circular windows with angled stone sills.

At the rear, an added school-room is constructed of rubble stone, with dressed stone quoins and a slate roof. Its openings have cambered arches made of brick, and the windows also feature angled stone sills.

Inside, the building retains many original fittings, although the pews have been removed. Iron columns, decorated with gold-painted spirals, support the gallery, which has pierced ironwork balustrades. Access to the gallery is provided by twin staircases from the entrance vestibule, and the pulpit remains in place.

Local climate

Former School-room to rear of chapel sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,040 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 83% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 48 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 24 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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  • Sale history — 5 transactions since 2001
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  • 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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