Former Bethany Chapel

This is a large, late-Victorian Gothic chapel, constructed of red brick with Bath stone dressings, a red sandstone basement, and a Welsh slate roof. The building was erected in the late 19th century. The prominent gable front features two three-light geometric windows with large quatrefoil heads above a pair of entrance doors. Flanking the doors are two-storey wings with gabled tops to house the gallery staircases. The upper gable incorporates slender recessed brick panels that rise from a stone string course, finished with kneelered coping and a finial. A twin-gabled porch, with ashlar apices and stone coping, provides access via double doors, which have four-pane overlights (currently covered). The staircase bays each have a lancet window with a traceried circular head and an unusually steep dripmould, which is continuous with a band course across the facade. A brick parapet is adorned with stone dressings.

The west elevation, which faces the street, consists of five bays with a moulded brick eaves course and paired lancet windows, separated by stepped brick buttresses. The gabled stair bays are also buttressed and contain smaller lancet windows, with floral terracotta panels inset below the sills in an Arts and Crafts style. The upper gable projects slightly, supported by a stone string course; above this, a semi-circular window with a trefoil head is set beneath a stone-coped gable with finial. A foundation stone is located at the south end of the elevation. The east elevation is constructed of rubble stone, without decorative features.

The chapel is raised above street level on a stone basement, accessed by steps leading to an entrance terrace, with three-light mullion and transom windows on the sides.

The interior, based on previous records, features an entrance doorway leading directly to a vestibule with stairs on both sides providing access to the galleries. A four-light mullion window with a moulded architrave is located on the facing wall of the vestibule, flanked by six-panel double doors (with diagonally boarded panels) leading into the main chapel. The auditorium is of a medium size and contains an impressive arch-braced collar truss roof, supported by five bays of trusses resting on shaped stone corbels decorated with paterae. The boarded ceiling has canted sides, with ribbed panels arranged in a chevron pattern. Inset octagonal ventilators have patterned grilles. Galleries span both ends of the chapel. The gallery at the entrance end is supported by a heavily moulded beam with curved ends; its front features recessed, diagonally boarded panels topped by an ornamental band of pierced squares with cusped corners, and a moulded top rail. The organ gallery at the opposite end is recessed beneath a large stone Gothic arch, featuring scalloped and foliated corbels. It has a lean-to rafter roof with wind-braced purlins. Small masks and plaster medallions representing the evangelists (an eagle for St. John on the left and an angel for St. Matthew on the right) are positioned on the end walls. The windows are lattice-glazed, with each jamb decorated with a single floral tile in an Aesthetic Movement style. The organ, pulpit platform, immersion font, and pews have been removed. The cellar is supported by attractive cast iron columns consisting of compound piers with four attached shafts. Stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops are also present.