- Nprn: 7289
- Cadw Ref: 22/D/99(3)
- Cadw Record No: 10657
- Summary: After the "troad allan" at Yr Hen Gapel Llwynrhydowen Unitarian Chapel, the church rented a small piece of land known as "Eisin-grug" from Mr Evan Jones, Melin Rhydowen. November 5th 1872, a fund was started to buy land for a new chapel and half an acre of Geilliaur land was purchased for £450. Until ready, services were held in a wooden building on "Eisin-grug". The foundation stone of the "Capel Coffadwrthiaethol" was laid on June 28th 1878, by Mrs Jones, Gellifaharen, and the chapel was opened in 1879. Gwilym Marles composed the following lines on the occasion of his visit to the new chapel a few days after the opening:
YR HEN A'R NEWYDD.
(Llwynrhydowen)
Unwaith mi gefais weled
Y demel brydferth hon;
Ac edrych ar ei harddwch
Llawenydd yw i'm bron;
Ond pan yr wyf yn cofio
Yr hen adeilad lwys,
Daw dagrau i fy llygaid,
A chwyd occenaid ddwys.
The new chapel was built in 1878 in the Classical style of the gable entry type, to the design of Watkin Davies of Llandysul. Built of rectangular blocks of rock-faced stone in regular courses, it has a 3-bay gable facade with raised quoins, window dressing, band and cornice in contrasting ashlar stone and a projecting plinth. The wider central bay is recessed within a giant semi-circular arch, with 3 steps leading to the centrally placed door set within a projecting stone porch decorated with a moulded cornice and obelisk finial. The porch pilasters have the inscriptions; "Dechreuad yr achos yn y/ Llwyn: 1726. Y Capel 1af: 1733/ Yr 2il 1791: Y 3ydd 1834. Adnewyddywyd: 1862. Y troad allan Hyd. 29, 1876." and "Dodwyd y maen hwn yn ei le / gan Mrs Jones, Gelli-Faharen/ Mehefin 21ain, 1878./ Wm. Thomas, M.A., Gweinidog./ "Deus nobis otia fecit". Over the porch is triplet of windows with etched and coloured glass, above which is a plaque "Capel/ Llwynrhydowen/ 1879" and a louvred semi-circular vent. The side bays have taller round-headed windows with clear glass.
The vestibule, with a coloured tile floor, has two doors, set with coloured glass panels, to the chapel interior and stairs to the gallery. The main interior has dado panelling with plaster walls scribed as ashlar and open bench pews laid out in three main blocks facing the pulpit on the rear wall. A further 3 rows of seats side facing the pulpit in the SE corner with and organ occupying the opposing NE corner. The sedd Fawr is curved and formed by a series of branching iron standards supporting the mahogany handrail. from this leads steps to either side of the centrally placed pulpit, which is canted and decorated with two tiers of decorated panelling. To the rear is a plaster pulpit arch with an ornately moulded head. The gallery is supported in cast iron columns with leaf caps and has a projecting gallery front of timber panels and a cornice with pear-drop motifs. Opposite the pulpit is a clock inscribed " Rhodd/ Pwyllgor Eisteddfod/ y Llwyn/ D Jones Llandyssul".
there are a number of memorials to the interior including former ministers of Llwynrhydowen: 1897 to The Reverend David Davies of Castell Hywel (d. 1827), to Siencyn Sion and Dafydd Llwyd, to The Reverend William Thomas (Gwilym Marles, d. 1879), to The Reverend Aubrey J. Martin (d. 1990) and to The Reverend Evan Oliver Jenkins (d. 1951). There is also a World War I Memorial.
In 1905 (Royal Commission on the Church of England and other Religious Bodies in Wales and Monmouthshire) there were 600 sittings in the chapel which was valued at £2200.
The Vestry was rebuilt in the early 20th century and has pebbledash rendering and a slate roof. The chapel is currently is use.
RCAHMW, March 2014 - Description: Chapel built 1878-9 in Classical style, long-wall entry type, to the design of Watkin Davies of Llandysul. A prominent feature of this Chapel is the large arch in the facade. Vestry (re)built early C20th. Status (1998): in chapel use.
Foundation stone of June 1878; opened 1879. The new chapel was built as a result of the "troad allan" of 29 October 1876 from the old chapel (NPRN: 11594), and following a temporary sojourn in the Ty Coed, built by Christmas, 1876.
Summary: stone-built gable-façade chapel with central entry via porch. Interior with end gallery facing the pulpit which is sited againt the rear gable. Semi-circular arched window openings with translucent glass windows with coloured-glass margin panes. Open bench seats. Detached vestry on SW. side of road (see below).
Exterior: ashlar dressings to front gable façade; stone to side elevations. Double-pitched slate roof with terracotta end finials.
3-bay front elevation faced with rectangular blocks of rock-faced stone in regular courses; the wider centre bay is recessed within a giant semi-circular arch (tooled voussoir blocks); quoins, window dressings, band and cornice at springing level all of contrasting ashlar, the quoins raised and the window dressings largely flush, but both finely tooled (not quite vermiculated); projecting plinth. 3 stone steps (with curved iron scroll balustrades) rise to the chapel doors set within a shallowly-projecting gabled stone porch. Chamfered stone doorway, the 2 doors each of 2 moulded panels, with a tall upper arched panel over a shorter lower panel; oblong overlight of 2 shallow translucent panes with etched and coloured-glass margin panes; stone porch with moulded gable cornice and stone obelisk finial. Stone inscriptions on porch pilasters, the r.h. inscription: "Dechreuad yr achos yn y/ Llwyn: 1726. Y Capel 1af: 1733/ Yr 2il 1791: Y 3ydd 1834. Adnewyddywyd: 1862. Y troad allan Hyd. 29, 1876." The l.h. inscription: "Dodwyd y maen hwn yn ei le / gan Mrs Jones, Gelli-Faharen/ Mehefin 21ain, 1878./ Wm. Thomas, M.A., Gweinidog./ "Deus nobis otia fecit"". Above the centre porch a triplet of windows with common cill with carved vine and flower lugs, pilastered jambs and moulded heads with keyblocks. Windows of 8 etched panes in a vertical strip of 4, set beneath 2 top quadrant panes and enclosed by margin panes, partly of etched and partly of coloured glass. Stone oval plaque above inscribed: "Capel/ Llwynrhydowen/ 1879". A louvred and semi-circular roof vent opening below the gable apex. The projecting side bays are articulated by the raised end and centre quoins, and the moulded cornice at springing line of the centre arch: each side bay with a single sash window stylistically resembling the 3 fixed windows above the porch, but taller than them, and wth translucent instead of etched glass.
4-bay side elevations faced with rock-faced stone in snecked courses; plinth; window openings with projecting stone cills, plain reveals of stone and rock-faced voussoirs; sash windows with horns, as in side bays of front elevation; oblong metal vents below. Rear elevation also of snecked stone with a louvred (semi-circular) roof vent opening as in the front elevation; plain, brown-painted bargeboard.
Interior: vestibule: coloured-tile floor (tiles arranged as gold crosses with black centres, set on a red lozenge ground with black, cream and beige borders). Cream-painted plaster walls scribed as ashlar and white-plaster ceiling. To each side, a semi-elliptical arch on ornate plaster brackets above the lower flights of wooden gallery stairs (see below). The inner wall of the vestibule with a door to chapel interior in each canted side and a window in its flat centre; the single, pine-framed doors to the chapel aisles each contains 4 tall rectangular panes of etched glass, enclosed by coloured-glass margin panes, and set in turn above 2 moulded panels of pine; square centre window of 4 etched panes framed by coloured-glass margin panes.
Chapel interior with matchboarded dado with moulded cornice below cream-painted-plaster walls scribed as ashlar; white-painted ovolo jambs to side window openings with brown-painted sloping timber cills with oblong vent panels; plaster arch behind pulpit. 4-bay ceiling comparable with Capel Shiloh in Lampeter, designed by Richard Owen of Liverpool (CM; NPRN: 7270), and Capel Newydd, Llandeilo (NPRN: 6328), with its deeply coved white-plaster sides and recessed centre portion divided into 4 diagonally-boarded and varnished centre panels, with plaster roses with acanthus leaves and bay-leaf border; each panel with 4 square corner vents. Ceiling ribs descend to carved wall brackets. End, SW. gallery.
Unnumbered open-bench seats on shallow wood-boarded platforms; chamfered-panel backs; shaped ends ornamented with quatrefoil paterae (rear seats with matchboarded backs). Paired centre block of seats of 11 seats depth with discontinuous seat divider; seat backs either of 2 or 2 and a bit panel width; single 3-panel seat at front; the back seats also narrower to allow for rear chapel doors. Single side blocks of seats: 14 seats depth on SE. and 12 plus late-C20 electronic organ on NW.. At pulpit end, 3 seats on SE. side face on to side of pulpit; organ in NE. corner.
Sedd Fawr, pulpit and organs: 1 step up on NW. and SE. to curved and open-sided Sedd Fawr enclosure with lino floor; bounded by mahogany handrail extending over 4 branching iron standards and wreathed over heavy turned newels. Inside Sedd Fawr and in front of pulpit, 1 chair each side of central pulpit projection, also a chest, donated in 1927. Each side of central pulpit projection, a flight of 4 steps to the wide and curving pulpit platform which extends back to the NE. rear gable wall and has a turned balustraded parapet. Similar balusters to pulpit stairs and heavy newels with boss caps and grooved ball finials. Central pulpit projection with slightly canted sides, and faced with 2 tiers of panelling, the ornate upper tier with arched heads to the 2 front panels and flat heads to the single side panels; cornice with pear-drop motif. 3 ornate C19 and wood-framed chairs on pulpit platform, the centre chair on the centre dais set before the pulpit arch. The pulpit arch has panelled pilasters, acanthus caps and an ornately moulded head; inset matchboarded dado. NE. 2-manual pipe organ with silver-painted pipes in varnished wood case; bench seat. Also Viscount Electronic organ, Model CL350.
Gallery: gallery beam supported by 2 end brackets and 2 fluted, brown-painted iron columns with exotic leaf caps picked out in gold; gallery beam cornice with pear-drop motif as on pulpit. 21 carved timber brackets and 4 larger brackets beneath projecting gallery front of 6 moulded panels; moulded cornice with 6 timber brackets, plus 2 further brackets which enclose a circular clock with legend:" Rhodd/ Pwyllgor Eisteddfod/ y Llwyn/ D Jones Llandyssul". Lower flights of gallery stairs each of 7 steps rising to a turn; plain handrail and turned newel; late-C19 4 moulded-panel door of pine below upper flight of 8 steps with square baluster balustrade. Inside gallery, a flight of 8 steps with square balusters to each side of paired centre block of bench seats of 4 seats depth; discontinuous seat divider; shallow, chamfered seat backs of 3 and 3 and a bit panels. At back of gallery, a continuous bench seat, with handrail to rear at centre and panelled back at ends.
Memorials: on NW. wall (ground floor), to David Thomas (Siop Rhydowen, d. 1887). On pulpit wall: memorials to former Ministers of Llwynrhydowen: of 1897 to The Reverend David Davies of Castell Hywel (d. 1827), to Siencyn Sion and Dafydd Llwyd, to The Reverend William Thomas (Gwilym Marles, d. 1879), to The Reverend Aubrey J. Martin (d. 1990), to The Reverend Evan Oliver Jenkins (d. 1951). 1st World War Memorial on SE..
The chapel ground is bounded along the road by stone walls, railings and gates; at outer edges by C19 boundary walls of rock-faced stone; inner rock-faced dwarf walls and iron railings, set partly on a quadrant, the silver-painted railings with circular uprights with fleur-de-lys finials. Pair of C19 iron gates with uprights as to railings, but alternately rising to above lock and top rails and with fancier finials at ends and centre. Square gate piers with gablet coping. 4 steps with rounded nosing lead up through the gates to the wide tarmacadamed path leading up to the steps before the chapel doors. Chapel ground bounded by stone wall and hedge on NW., incorporating C19 iron gate with spear-headed finials above top and mid rail; low stone wall along NE,; C20 wire fence along SE. boundary. Memorials to Gwilym Marles and to The Reverend E.O. Jenkins, to NW. of chapel door.
Vestry: early C20? SE. gable entry; pebbledash walling; slate roof with metal vents. Lateral elevation faces the chapel from SW. side of road: 5 bays articulated by 4 rendered pilasters and rendered plinth; 4 windows with frosted-glass panes, each of 2 panes below and 8 small panes above. SE. gable entry with 2 concrete steps below a pair of wooden-boarded doors; rectilinear frosted-glass overlight; slate-roofed hood on wood brackets with pierced trefoil to each side. Small window each side (2 glass panes below 6 small panes).
Vestry interior: wood-boarded floor; high, brown-painted dado, the walls above painted white/cream. Roughly 6-bay roof, concealed underneath varnished-wood boarding, ceiled flat at collar level, with 3 ceiling vent panels; sloping sides. Against SW. wall, fireplace surround with shaped mantleshelf on brackets; some C19 or early-C20 wood-framed "country" chairs. Harmonium by Packard, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Conclusion: a giant arch externally as found in Capel Bethel, Penbontrhydygroes. Its ceiling almost identical and its end gallery and columns close to those of the Calvinistic Methodist Capel Shiloh of 1874 in Lampeter; a similar ceiling found also in the later Capel Newydd, Llandeilo (Annibynwyr; NPRN 6328) of 1901-02 by Henry Herbert of Ammanford.
Visited 7/11/96 by DJR & OJ. OJ 7/11-1/97.
ABANDONED
A famous chapel historically for its association with the great Unitarian controversy that led to this area becoming known as 'y Smotyn Ddu' and for the incident when the squire of Alltyshodyn locked the congregation out of the chapel. Their minister, Gwilym Marles (Thomas), had become deeply involved in local politics as a radical and 'tribune of the people' - a great-uncle of Dylan Thomas. The entire area from Llandysul to the Vale of Aeron was known as Y Smotyn Ddu due to the supposely 'heretical' worshippers who lived there.
Typically, these Unitarians were persecuted and ever the object of controversy - there's even a Wesley hymn:
'The Unitarian fiend expel
And send his doctrines back to Hell'
Circular plaque. Sidewall two story façade of great virility of design impact, hipped roof.
Slate gravestones predominate in graveyard to front.
Interior very poor condition. Owls in residence. Posibility it will be converted to a Unitarian museum. (Anthony Jones; these notes by Anthony Jones relate to the old chapel, NPRN: 11594). - Built: 1878-1879 Source:Cadw
- Built: 1879 Source:Evan James
- Built: 1834 Source:Anthony Jones
- Eviction From Old Chapel: 1876 Source:Cadw
- Date Of Chapel: 1878 Source:
- Gwilym Marles Buried: 1879 Source:Cadw
- Designer: 1878-1879 Watkin Davies, Llandysul
- £ 2200: 1905 (RCCEORBWM)
- 600: 1905 (RCCEORBWM)
- Chapel: 1997 (Welsh Unitarian Handbook)
- Chapel: 8/12/2010 (Denominational website)
- Materials
- Stone
- Monument Type: CHAPEL
- Form: Building
- Storey: Two Storey
- Style: Classical
- Gallery: End gallery
- Plan: Long-wall entry
- Pulpit Position: Rear Wall
- Window Glazing: Margin
- 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
Key Characteristics of this Chapel
Images from Coflein
Map
- Grid Reference: SN44154585
- Address: PONTSIAN ROAD, CARDIGAN ROAD, PONTSAEN/PONTSIAN
2 thoughts on “CAPEL LLWYNRHYDOWEN (WELSH UNITARIAN;LLWYNRHYDOWEN (NEW)), PONTSIAN ROAD, RHYDOWEN (LLWYNRHYDOWEN (NEW))”
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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