Bethesda English Baptist Church

Heritage listing

Reason for designation: Graded II* as the major work in Romanesque style of an outstanding Welsh chapel architect with complete interior. History: Baptist chapel of 1878 by George Morgan, possibly the finest of his Italian Romanesque works and the centre piece of an extraordinary few years in which he introduced the style to Wales. Priory Chapel Carmarthen of 1875, Salem, Ferryside of 1877, Frogmore Street, Abergavenny of 1877, Bethesda, Haverfordwest of 1878, Ebenezer Port Talbot of 1880 and Dinas Noddfa, Swansea of 1884 are the major works. This chapel cost 2,199. The gallery ironwork also appears in two Baptist chapels of the later 1870s by the Rev H Thomas, Adulam, Felinfoel, Llanelli, and Caersalem Newydd, Treboeth, Swansea. The carved stonework is by E Powell of Abergavenny, the coloured glass by Cox & Son. The chapel replaces one of 1789 rebuilt in 1816 using old site and part of old walls. Exterior: Chapel, rock-faced grey limestone with extensive Bath stone ashlar dressings, slate roofs and coped gables with stone finials. Large Romanesque winged gable facade. Advanced centre with wings gabled on the side walls. Two-storey design, the low ground floor under a big stringcourse with zigzag moulding right across. Centre is framed by piers with ashlar quoins that rise right up to stepped corbelling following the gable line. Below the corbelling a stepped small arcade of 7 blank panels. Pierced ashlar infill only to the tallest centre panel, 6 column shafts and a hoodmould following the stepped arches. This is over the very large main rose window, an exceptional design, a Gothic octofoil with shaft-ribs, trefoil cusping and pierced spandrels below. Ashlar over-arch on ashlar column shafts and red sandstone voussoirs above the hoodmould. The hoodmould links to a stri

From Cadw under OGL v3.