- Nprn: 7284
- Cadw Ref: 22/D/23(5)
- Cadw Record No: 10581
- Summary: Seion Welsh Independent Chapel was built in 1870-1 to the design of Rev. Thomas Thomas of Landore and opened on October 4th and 5th 1871. the land, and much money for the building, was donated by Mrs Jones, The Shop.
It is in the Classical style, with round-headed openings, a painted and stuccoed exterior and pitched slate roof. The chapel has a tripartite gable facade with pilasters and a major central arch breaking into the pedimented gable. The central arch contains an arched doorway with pilasters, moulded arch and keystone, below a triplet of arched windows, with a keyed roundel with date plaque in the apex. The side bays each have long arched windows with stuccoed surrounds. The side elevations have five similar windows, and the five-bay vestry adjoins the rear elevation.
The chapel interior is largely unaltered, with a three-sided gallery with cast-iron panels and moulded cornice mounted upon cast-iron columns. The pews below are curved around a semi-circular set fawr with matching cast-iron panels and a timber pulpit with canted front and stairs to either side. The organ, housed in an elliptical arched recess, dates to 1900. The plaster ceiling has a moulded border and ribs raditting from three roundels.
In 1905 (Royal Commission on the Church of England and other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire) there were 550 sittings in the chapel which was valued at £2650.
Source: Cadw Listed Building Record
RCAHMW Inventory Documents
K Steele, RCAHMW, 20 March 2009 - Description: Cause begun 1870 & school chapel built 1870-1 in Classical style, gable entry type, to the design of Rev. Thomas Thomas of Landore. A prominent feature of this Chapel is the large arch in the facade. Status (1998): in chapel use.
History and development: the chapel is sited prominently on Llandysul's skyline. The cause began in 1870 when a branch of Horeb chapel (NPRN 7283) was established here. Seion was built in 1870-71 to the design of The Rev. Thomas Thomas of Llandore, and the opening of the chapel took place on October 4th and 5th, 1871 (Information from J. Orbach and also E.R.Horsfall Turner, Walks and wanderings in County Ceredigion (1903)). New organ opened 1/6/1900. Further works of 1912 (chapel re-opened 6/9/12). Electricity installed 1928. Accommodation: in 1905 (appendices to the Royal Commission on the Church of England and other Religious Bodies) there were 550 sittings in the Chapel and 325 in the schoolroom adjoining.
Summary: stuccoed, pedimental-gable façade chapel with centre doorway; pulpit backing on to opposite gable. Open bench seats set on a wide curve, continuing across side blocks; gallery seating also partly curved. One of The Rev. Thomas Thomas's pediment-cum-giant arch facades, and possibly the first of his to be introduced into Ceredigion (information from Julian Orbach). 2-light semi-circular headed windows, with glazed top spandrels in the façade and top quadrant panes at the sides.
Exterior: front elevation: white-painted pedimental gable façade of 3 bays faces SW., down to Seion Hill; raised, green-painted dressings. Giant pilasters to main entablature, the upper part of the entablature rising into the tympanum of the pedimental gable and arched over the centre bay. 1 step to semi-circular doorway with plain pilasters, caps and moulded arched head with triple keyblock; each door of 2 moulded panels under a segmental head and with a glazed circlet and spandrels in the fanlight. Above the doorway, a graduated triplet window, with semi-circular headed lights, the 2 lights in the centre of 5 panes depth, the top panes arched and with glazed spandrels; the single flanking lights of 4 panes depth. Blocked keyed oculus over. Bargeboard with wood pendant. To each side of centre bay, a tall semi-circular headed window opening with keystone and cill band; a 2-light wood-framed window, of 6 panes depth, the top panes round-arched with glazed spandrels.
Side elevations: plainer side elevations each lit by 5 semi-circular headed 2-light windows, of 7 panes depth under 2 top quadrant panes. The SE. return is of white-painted stucco with green-painted impost band; the NW. return is of pebbledash.
Lower and narrower organ loft, but with SE. and NW. lean-to extensions, adjoins on NW.; stone and slate-roofed NW. lean-to with 2 wooden-boarded doors; yellow brick stack on organ chamber roof.
The Vestry: this adjoins the organ loft and has stone rubble walls and a slate roof, the SE. elevation rendered. Semi-circular headed windows each side, of 2 lights, and of 6 panes depth, and with 2 further quadrant lights in the head. The 5 NW. windows have brick-arched heads. The 4 SE. windows have plain rendered archivolts and an impost band that rises as a shaped head over the l.h. (S.W.) doorway that is at the entrance to the vestry lobby. This doorway has pilasters and moulded archivolt.
Kitchen and loft in the same range at NW. end; gabled loft door on NW. side; in the SE. elevation, wooden-boarded door with 2-pane overlight and a 6-pane window, on ground floor, both with labels, and a similar 4-pane window over.
Interior: Chapel vestibule: encaustic tile floor, similar to that at Peniel, Aberaeron? (NPRN 7132) of shades of green, red and beige, incorporating beige-patterned motifs on black squares and purple lozenges; dark chevron border on white ground. Gold-painted plaster walls. Blackcurrant-painted raked plaster ceiling with moulded white ceiling cornice. At each end, a white-plaster arch on ornate plaster brackets at the foot of each of the gallery staircases; each of the latter with lower flights of 9 steps to a turn, upper flights of 9 steps, the bottom step under gallery door of 6 moulded panels in 2 tiers and with brass handles; stick balusters. Inner vestibule wall with canted sides and containing doorways to chapel with C19 architraves and doors with brass handles and C20 covers. Central C19 rectilinear window with centre lozenge panel of frosted glass surrounded by translucent glass; coloured glass margin panes.
Chapel interior: herringbone parquet woodblock floor. Aisles with red, blue and green Turkey carpet strips. Matchboarded dado. Pink-painted plaster walls. Window openings with chamfered jambs, splayed reveals and raked timber cill; ventilators incorporated into cills of 1st and 3rd windows from the entrance; wall vents towards Sedd Fawr end. Raked soffits to gallery of white-painted plaster. Window panes of translucent or small-pane frosted glass. White-painted and moulded archivolts to gallery windows continue as impost bands. Light fittings may be the old brass gas lamp fittings, re-used; 7 two-branched lights on gallery front; single-branched lights between gallery windows.
Gold-painted ceiling divided into panels by white-painted ribs. Outer "margin panel" framed by 2 white-painted and moulded ceiling cornices, the inner cornice with a rinceau band. Large inner rectangle divided by ribs into triangular end panels and centre subdivided lozenge panel, with smaller circular panels with pendant vents at the intersections between triangular and lozenge panels; larger circular rose in centre with inner guilloche border and outer dart and waterleaf motif; smaller fan-shaped panels at corners of large rectangle and centre of sides.
Ground-floor seating: varnished pine seats with matchboarded backs with three-quarter round mouldings at the tops, a few retaining red felt seat covers ornamented with fleur-de-lys; shaped ends with number plaques (black numbers on a white ground). Centre paired block of seats flanked by single blocks of lateral seats, the lateral seats set askew, and each paired centre seat and its flanking lateral seats set on a continuous curve. Centre block of seats with continuous matchboarded and plain wood panelled continuous seat divider, the centre seats numbered 21-35 on SE. and 36-50 on NW., narrower at rear (21 & 22, and 49 & 50) so as to fit with vestibule doorways. A space between front centre seats and Sedd Fawr enclosure. Lateral seats comprise nos 5-20 on SE. and 51-66 on NW.. Each side at the front, 2 single blocks of seats (nos. 1-4 on SE., no. 1 a single seat, and nos. 67-70 on NW.) face on to the sides of the Sedd Fawr and pulpit at right angles; seats 5 & 6 and 65 & 66, part of the lateral blocks of seats, are attached to nos. 1-4 and 67-70 and set behind them on a curve'.
Gallery: 3-sided gallery, the gallery front curved at the end intersections. Circular cast-iron columns with gilt caps, the shafts brown to top of pew height and lilac-painted above. The 3rd column from N. stamped with the founder's name: "T.Bright Carmarthen"; the 1st and 2nd columns from N., and the rear 2 and the centre gallery columns, stamped "William Isaac Carmarthen" (2 phases of construction?). Moulded and carved front face to gallery beam. Projecting gallery front has 2 tiers of fluted pilasters framing 2 sets of panelling, the lower set with 3 moulded panels to each bay and the upper with openwork iron panels, stamped "Walter MacFarlane & Co. Glasgow". Moulded cornice and handrail. Integral wood-framed circular clock at end inscribed :"Rhodd Ebenezer Jones /Y Shop /1871". Paired lamp brackets on gallery front (see above).
Sedd Fawr, pulpit and organ: 2 steps each side up to Sedd Fawr enclosure, the 2nd step triangular. Sedd Fawr enclosure faced with matchboarded base, tier of moulded wood panels and crowning tier of openwork cast-iron panels, one to each bay and similar to the panels on gallery front (also by MacFarlane ?). Moulded wood handrail, culminating in wreathed newels. In the place of the Sedd Fawr bench, 10 bentwood chairs of early-to-mid C20.
Straight flights of 5 red-carpeted steps to pulpit dais, with wood balustrading in form of 5-bay round-arched arcading on columns with foliage caps; square fluted newels with curvilinear sides, square panelled caps and fancy finials. At front of pulpit dais, round-arched arcading at sides of 5-sided pulpit projection, the latter with canted sides and wider panelled front; faced below the mid cornice with plain moulded panels below carved reliefs of foliage in shallow horizontal panels ; above the mid cornice, round-arched panels framed by colonnettes and inset with carved reliefs, , and with 2 such carved panels to the front face. Upper carved reliefs comprise: vine fruit and foliage (r.h. canted side; lilies (r.h. front); fruit (l.h. front); flowers (l.h. canted side). Upholstered wood settle in pulpit. 2 chairs as elsewhere in Sedd Fawr in front of the pulpit; Windsor chair behind later-C20 communion table of oak with square legs, in memory of D.R.Jones, Church Secretary from 1928-1966. Oak lectern.
The pulpit is framed by a lofty semi-elliptical arch with panelled soffit, and of 2 orders of pilasters; the lower pilasters are panelled and have fluted caps, while the upper pilasters are fluted and have foliage caps; panelled spandrels. This arch also encloses the organ which is placed behind and above the pulpit. Organ pipes painted beige and grey and decorated with stencilling. 3-manual pipe organ of 1900 by Blackett and Howden of Newcastle on Tyne and Glasgow.
Registration: Swell organ: Double diapason 16, Open diapason 8, Lieblich gedacht 8, Viol di gamba 8, Voix celeste 8, Principal 4, Cornopi 8, Oboe 8, Vox humana 8, Tremulant, (illegible), Swell octave, swell to pedal
Pedal organ: Open diapason 16, Bourdon 16, Lieblich bourdon 16, V'L'NCLO 8, Great pedal, Ch. Ped., Swell to great, Swell sub octave to great, illegible
Great organ: Lieblich bourdon 16, Open diapason large 8, Open diapason small 8, Rohr flute 8, Salic 8, Principal 4, Twelfth, Fift 2, Trumpet 8, SW-CH.
Choir organ: Clarla 8, Dulciana 8, Bell Gamba 8, Flute 4, Clariet 8
Gallery seating: gallery seats with high moulded panel backs and plain shaped ends. Lateral seats of 2 seats depth with wall bench behind them. Each side from Sedd Fawr end: 1. a single block of seats of 2 seats depth; 2 & 3. 2 paired blocks of seats; 4. a paired block of seats curved round the gallery intersection, and behind the curved part of these, a gangway and then 2 further seats, at the back of the gallery and beside the stair enclosures. In between these end gallery seats, and behind the clock, a paired block of seats of 4 seats depth in the middle.
Link corridor: a 4-panel door on the SE. of the pulpit leads to a red-tiled corridor (the tiles laid herringbone fashion within a red chevron border on a beige ground) alongside the 4-panel door to the organ loft; the corridor connects the chapel with the vestry lobby.
Vestry lobby and vestry: the vestry lobby is matchboarded and has an encaustic tile floor (blue squares on white lozenges at intersections of larger red tiles laid lozenge-wise) and 2 four-panel matchboarded doors at the entrance to the vestry. The vestry has a matchboarded dado and green-painted walls; window openings with chamfered jambs, splayed reveals, flat heads and timber cills. Platform at NE. end with Welsh wool curtains and four-panel door at rear. 7-bay ceiling with sloping sides and flat matchboarded centre of 4-panel width. Iron-framed benches along NW. and SE. sides. Single-manual late-C19 harmonium by Cray Cornish Company, Washington New Port. Registration: Orchestral Forte?, Hautboy, Bass coupler, S bass, Principal, Diapason, Diapason forte, Piano, Vox humana, missing, Volana?, Flute, Celeste, Missing, Clarinet, Echo, Piccolo, Missing?
NW. vestry kitchen with black and red tile floor laid lozenge-wise. Centre folding timber screen, with two 4-pane overlights above 4 herringbone-boarded panel doors in stopped and chamfered frames; two-tier cupboards with vertical panel doors.
Chapel burial ground on NW. and NE. of chapel. Asphalt forecourt on SW. of chapel is enclosed on W. by stone retaining wall below the chapel burial ground and, on SE., by another stone wall with rendered coping. The forecourt narrows on SW. to the chapel gates and gate piers, the stone walls extending to here and beyond, the W. wall as far as the chapel house (Seion Cottage) and the SE. wall enclosing a piece of ground on S. of the chapel, the wall returning SE. and then NE. down Seion Hill, where it carries 19th-century iron railings with circular uprights, and alternate uprights with lozenge finials. The chapel gate piers (see above) are of stone with coping with gablets. Iron scrolled overthrow and lampholder. Iron gates have uprights rising alternately to middle and top rails; lozenge finials above middle rail; uprights above the top rail join in pairs to form small ogee arches; downward curving top rails.
Seion Cottage (chapel house): later-19th century two-storey house. Stone walls, painted in front (SE.) and in NE. gable. Slate roof with red brick gable stacks. Two cambered-headed window openings with 20th-century windows in front elevaion; 20th-century windows also in NE. gable,two on first floor and one to left hand below; late-20th century door in reveals and up three steps to right hand. Attached 19th-century stone outbuilding on the SW., the front elevation with a blocked window opening above a ground-floor doorway with wood-boarded door.
OJ. 8/11/95 & 7/1/96; 3/-5/97. Visited 8/11/95
by kind permission of the then-Minister and re-visited 4/3/97 by kind permission of the Chapel Secretary.
References: W.J.Davies, Hanes plwyf Llandyssul (Llandyssul: J.D.Lewis, 1896; repr. By Gwasg Gomer, 1992). Cardigan & Tivyside Advertiser, 1/6/1900, 6/9/1912, 25/10/1912. - Built: 1870-1871 Source:Cadw
- Built: 1870-1871 Source:Evan James
- Cause: 1870 Source:Evan James
- Date Of Chapel: 1870 Source:
- Organ: 1900 Source:Cadw
- Architect: 1870-1871 Thomas Thomas, Landore
- £ 2650: 1905 (RCCEORBWM)
- 550: 1905 (RCCEORBWM)
- 325: 1905 (RCCEORBWM)
- Chapel: 1998 (Blwyddiadur)
- Chapel: 6/12/2010 (denominational website)
- Welsh: 1998 (Blwyddiadur)
- Materials
- Rendered
- Monument Type: CHAPEL
- Form: Building
- Storey: Two Storey
- Style: Classical
- Gallery: On Three Sides
- Plan: Gable Entry
- Window Glazing: Tracery
- Windows: Round-Headed
Key Details of this Chapel
Key Dates of this Chapel
Key People in this Chapel History
Costs during this Chapels History
Capacities during this Chapels History
Changes of Status its History
The Languages of the Chapel during its History
Key Characteristics of this Chapel
Images from Coflein
Map
- Grid Reference: SN41634067
- Address: SEION HILL, LLANDYSULLLANDYSUL
2 thoughts on “SEION WELSH INDEPENDENT CHAPEL (ZION), SEION HILL, LLANDYSUL (ZION)”
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Hello
My great great grandparents were married in Kinnerton Chapel in Old Radnor on 21st May1850. I have been searching for information on the Chapel, so was pleased to find this website. I have now located it on Google Street View – looks like someone is ‘doing it up’ to live in: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.2612635,-3.1095337,3a,90y,232.95h,84.26t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1s-8DWPORkq2RFVNXBLde_-g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!9m2!1b1!2i53?hl=en-GB
The marriage record of my ancestors Abraham Bounds and Elizabeth Williams is attached. I hope it is of interest.
All the best
Saira
Dear Sara
Thank you for the information. I am glad to hear that it was some help to you.
Good luck on your continued search
Christine