History

Built 1906-08 by Philip J Thomas of Bridgend for English-speaking Baptists. Recently cleaned and renovated externally.

Exterior

Large Gothic Revival chapel with pale sandstone dressings and grey hammer-dressed facings in thin courses; slate roofs with base of ventilator to main ridge. Three-bay gabled main façade with polygonal turrets flanking a big Geometric-traceried window with porch gable rising into blind frieze of 5 cusped panels of alternating design. Stepped buttresses flank the central doorway with deeply moulded arch-head; double boarded doors with strapwork hinges. Single cusped lancets under hoodmoulds step up to flanking stair towers under transverse slated gables; diagonal corner buttresses. Two-storey side elevations with tall return ranges forming a T-plan at S end; traceried heads to 2-light windows and square-headed ground-floor lancets. The downhill elevation to Derwen Road is 3 storeys with pointed doorway and plain sash windows to church hall. Lean-to vestries attached to S end with gables of similar church offices and Sunday School completing the group to left along Station Hill.

Interior

Spacious T-plan interior with ribbed and boarded ceiling of 5-sided profile and tie-rods linked to feet of trusses. Exceptional cantilevered gallery on metalwork frame, concealed by sinuous panelled front, sweeps forward from transepts and circles round at main N galleried end. Openwork metal-panelled front with concave palmette frieze over fluted bolection mounding; sinuous timber handrails. Full-height blind Gothic arch flanked by smaller openings rises behind polygonal reading desk with alabaster parapet to immersion pool at front. Vestibule under N gallery with twin baluster stairs to upper level. Art Nouveau patterned glass to window heads. Church hall runs under main chapel with I-beam floor joists.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a prominent Edwardian chapel by a well-known Bridgend architect with an exceptional cantilevered gallery within well-preserved interior.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29504519

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)