Summary

Former Union (joint Baptist and Congregational) chapel, built in 1887 by Archibald Nevill, later used as a Sikh Temple (Gurdwara).

Description

Materials: constructed of rock-faced coursed gritstone with ashlar dressings to the Union Chapel, and slate roofs.

Plan: an almost square plan with an entrance porch projecting from a hexagonal clerestoried lantern. It has a two-stage tower, gabled transepts and a short nave. To the south side is a two storey extension with a lower wing to the rear.

Exterior: the main elevation, facing east, has a projecting porch which takes up the majority of the frontage. At the centre is a large double pointed-arch window in a gabled front flanked by angled buttresses with crocketed spires. The walls angled back on each side have smaller four-centred arch windows and a decorative frieze above: flying buttresses rise to the lantern behind. The lantern has three gabled faces each with a large traceried pointed arch window. The square tower stands behind the lantern, with the short gabled transepts extending from the sides of the tower. The tower has four clock faces and crocketed pinnacles at each corner. To the right (north) a single storey extension has three square windows and to the left (south) is a two storey extension with a ground floor entrance and three groups of two first floor windows. This extension extends towards the rear (west) as a single storey for the full length of the nave.

Interior: the building has later partitioning but original features include: two entrances to anteroom, inserted screen with double doors to main hall with stone columns, round arches, attached columns, ribbed vault, traceried wall panels; first-floor galleries partitioned off, red and yellow patterned glass in lantern windows (now school room); tower has clock mechanism.

History

The first building on the site was a Congregational Chapel built in 1870-71 by W. H. Harris, it was known as the Newton Park Congregational Church. This was extensively damaged by fire in 2005. In 1887 the Newton Park Union Chapel, serving both Baptist and Congregational denominations was constructed on the eastern side of the chapel, designed by Archibald Nevill, a Leeds architect. After a period as a RAFA Club by c.1963 the Union Chapel had became a Sikh Temple (Gurdwara). It is currently unused.

Reasons for Listing

* Architecture: the exterior is a striking and individual design carried out with confidence and incorporating a number of well-executed decorative details
* Interior: the interior retains a number of original features despite its conversion to a different religious use
* Historic interest: the changing uses of this building reflect the changing social, religious and ethnic composition of the area

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26547218

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)