Lon Swan Independent Chapel, including associated Hall, forecourt walls & railings, Denbigh, Denbighshire

Entry Name: Lon Swan Independent Chapel, including associated Hall, forecourt walls & railings

Listing Date: 2 February 1981

Last Amended: 20 July 2000

Grade: II*

Source: Cadw

Source ID: 976

Building Class: Religious, Ritual and Funerary

Also known as: Lôn Swan Independent Chapel
Capel yr Annibynwyr, Lon Swan, Dinbych

ID on this website: 300000976

Location: Set back from the lane behind its own railed, walled forecourt.

County: Denbighshire

Community: Denbigh (Dinbych)

Community: Denbigh

Locality: Denbigh - Town

Built-Up Area: Denbigh

Traditional County: Denbighshire

Tagged with: Chapel

History

Congregational chapel founded in 1742 and rebuilt in 1839. The chapel was given a new italianate facade probably around 1880, at which point a small adjacent manse was also built and the interior reordered.

Exterior

Large chapel with symmetrical show-piece facade in Italian Renaissance style. Of rubble construction under a pitched slate roof, the facade is of red/brown brick with limestone ashlar dressings. This is of 3 bays, with the central (entrance) bay rising above a heavy cornice to terminate in a triple-arched attic window with surmounting moulded pediment scrolled onto the adjoining parapet. This central bay, together with the outer sections of the flanking bays, is advanced slightly and has ashlar quoins. Arched windows to the ground and first floors of the flanking bays and the first floor of the central bay. The latter and the ground-floor windows to the former have segmental pediments on supporting consoles, whilst the remaining windows have standard pediments with similar treatment. These have simple Renaissance-style glazing consisting of wooden paired, arched mullions with surmounting occuli. Plain projecting stringcourse between the ground and first floors; cornice with modillion treatment and surmounting panelled parapet.

Single-storey central porch, with clasping corner piers crowned by miniature pediments on each face, surmounted by fish-scaled domes with ball finials; flat roof. Arched doorway with moulded entablature and blind oculi in the spandrels; projecting keystone and imposts. There are narrow arched windows to each of the returns. Sixteen-panel double doors with segmental fan with glazing bars copying those to the windows.

The chapel is set back behind low limestone forecourt walls with simple surmounting iron railings. At the L corner and flanking a pair of central gates are square ashlar piers with pedimented and domed tops in imitation of those to the porch corners. At the far R is a plain gate with decorative arched overthrow.

Interior

Entrance passage with gallery stairs ascending to L and R; these with turned balusters and newels. Geometric pavement with polychromed tiles. The partition wall dividing the entrance passage from the chapel proper is half-panelled and has entrances flanking a central window with stained glass margins. The entrances have architraves with classical dentilated pediments.

Fine chapel interior with U-shaped gallery supported on cast iron colonnettes and cantilevered-out on scrolled brackets; modillion decoration and panelled face with moulded surmounting rail. Six tiers of pew seating to main and gallery floors, the latter raking. Set fawr with curved enclosing rails having turned balusters and newels with geometric finials. Central, semi-octagonal pulpit with flanking curved stair approaches, detailed as before. The pulpit has blind arched niches with inlay and Early English-style capitals and shafts; dentilated and inlaid rail. Raised up behind the Set-fawr and pulpit is a large organ by Bellamy of Denbigh. Tripartite arched upper section with dentilated and moulded cornicing, projecting keys and flanking shafts with capitals; geometric finials. Panelled lower section with central console. The ceiling has 3 large ceiling roses having complex foliate plasterwork. Moulded ribs radiate out to the corners where there are further, smaller roses.

Plain vestry room with dado boarding and fielded panelled doors to a plain 4-bay hall; this with boarded dado, pine floor and barrel-vaulted plaster ceiling.

Reasons for Listing

Listed Grade II* as an especially fine mid-Victorian chapel with bold, well-detailed facade and retaining good galleried interior.

Group value with the adjacent manse and other listed items in Chapel Street.

External Links

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.