- Nprn: 7335
- Summary: The Wesleyan cause in Tre-ddol stared in 1804 and the first Soar Methodist Chapel (NPRN 97034) was built in 1806, rebuilt in 1845 and enlarged in 1864. Soar was finally rebuilt on the current site 1877, with the old chapel being used as a Sunday school. The new chapel was designed by the architect Richard Owen of Liverpool, approved by the Wesleyan Chapel Committee, Manchester to a cost of £1176. The building contract went to David Rees, and David Williams of Aberystwyth was the surveyor. The attached vestry to the rear was added in c.1914.
The chapel is a stone building of the gable entry type, built in in the Lombardic/Italinate style. There is a lean-to vestibule with a gable porch to the centre accommodating the round-headed doorway with it marginally-glazed fanlight. Above are three Round-headed window openings, each with a circular stone traceried window in the Italinate style in the head, and a rectangular, small paned window below. Yellow brick corbelling floows the outline of the gable, rising from a pilaster at eaither corner of the facde, which together enclose a circular vent in the apex of the gable. On the left hand side of the façade is an integral tower with an octagonal lantern topped with a spire.
The interior has a vestubule floor with encaustic tiles, and an internal window through to the main auditorium, etched with the inscriptions 2Gwyliaar dy droed pan-fyddech yn myned a dy dduw", "Y goraf oll yw/y/ maeduw gyndan ni" and "Y trefnyddion Weslayaidd". The pulpit is against the far wall, with a giant plaster arch behind it. The pulpit is reached by two flanking flights of steps, rising from the rectangular sedd fawr in front of it. The pews are all open bench seats of varnished pine, and there is a harmonium in front of the centre seat.
There is a World War I memorial and memorial to Humphrey Jones, y Dwygiwr (1832-95). The latter is in the form of a bronze tablet with white-painted inscription: ""Ei wedi ef oedd ei waith " er cof am Humphrey Jones y dwygiwr a aned yng Ngwarcwm Bach, Tre'r ddol/ Hydref 11, 1832 a fu farw yn/ Chilton, Wisconsin, UDA Mai 8. 1895/ Trwyddo ef, ac yn y pentref hwn./ Y cychwynnodd y diwyciad/ Crefyddol a ymledodd trwy/ Gymru yn y flwyddyn 1859".
In 2006, planning permission was proposed to convert the chapel into a holiday unit,
Capel Newsletter, 5/2006 - Description: 1. First chapel built 1809, rebuilt 1845 & enlarged 1864. Rebuilt 1877 in Romanesque style, gable entry type with integral tower to the design of Richard Owen of Liverpool(?). Status (1998): in chapel use.
2. Stone gable facade chapel in a Lombardic idiom, with lean-to narthex or vestibule with gabled porch in centre; attached tower and spire on NE.; winged bay with hipped roof on south west. Mostly semi-circular headed windows with coloured-glass margin panes. Lofty, 1-storey, flat-ceilinged interior with pulpit against rear gable: open bench seats. Attached vestry at rear.
CD/Ecclesiastical/SN69SE from O.M. Jenkins.
CHN 25/05/04
Registered as a place of worship in November 1877. Built according to plans approved by the Wesleyan Chapel Committee, Manchester, as a replacement for Yr Hen Gapel, also Soar (NPRN 97034), where Humphrey Jones had preached but which was now too small. New chapel intended to seat 550. Permission for a new chapel at a cost of 1176 was granted in 1872 by the Wesleyan Chapel Committee. Designed by Richard Owen of Liverpool? (see conclusion below). Contract of 1874 with David Rees as builder; David Williams of Aberystwyth the Surveyor. According to one estimate of October 1876, joiner's work was to include flooring and joisting and seatings and platform and deacon's pew and all doors, windows and cupboards. Payment receipts of 1877 survive e.g. for carpenter's and joiner's work (instalment payment) and plasterwork (NLW, "Amgueddfa Hen Gapel" Tre'r-ddol Mss. Collection). The attached rear vestry is thought to have been built ca. 1914-18.
Summary: stone gable façade chapel in a Lombardic idiom, with lean-to narthex or vestibule with gabled porch in centre; attached tower and spire on NE.; winged bay with hipped roof on SW.. Mostly semi-circular headed windows with coloured-glass margin panes. Lofty, 1-storey, flat-ceilinged interior with pulpit against rear gable; open bench seats. Attached vestry at rear.
Exterior: front and side elevations faced with shallow courses of roughly dressed stone in snecked courses; paler grey ashlar dressings to front façade and to NW. bays of side elevations. Yellow brick corbelling to main gable; yellow brick string to plinth; yellow brick window dressings and moulded and dentil eaves course in side elevations.
Front façade with 4 foundation stones dispersed above plinth: "Gosodwyd" "Dydd" "Nadolig" "1874". Centre entry via 4 stone steps up to segmentally-headed and arcaded ashlar doorway at front of gabled porch, the porch with raked stone coping and kneelers and wrought-iron finial; traceried fanlight in doorway over a pair of 6 moulded-panel doors, painted grey. To each side, front wall of narthex-cum-vestibule with yellow brick dentil eaves cornice above an arcaded and ashlar-framed 2-light window with centre pilaster, containing round-arched window lights. Above the "narthex", a triplet of stilted-arched window openings on pilasters with caps; plate-traceried circular window in the head of each arch and, below it, between the pilasters, a 6-pane oblong window with margin panes and canted top corners. Round-arched dripstones descending to a cornice in line with the pilaster caps of the window triplet, and that extends as a stringcourse across the otherwise plain end pilasters below the main gable, the last enclosing an oculus with inset roof vent. Apart from yellow brick corbelling, the main gable is articulated by ashlar coping and kneelers and a wrought-iron finial.
The winged bay on SW. has cresting and wrought-iron finial to its slate hipped roof and contains a tall round-arched and arcaded ashlar window opening with string at impost level; the window opening contains a 2-tier window, semi-circular-headed above oblong, the tiers separated by a panelled ashlar apron.
At the NE. end of the façade the front wall of the square tower contains a semi-circular headed window with ashlar dressings in arcading: 10-pane window with 2 top quadrant panes, all enclosed by coloured-glass margin panes. Above it, an oculus in arcaded reveals of ashlar with yellow brick outer rim. Octagonal lantern above squinches and partly faced with ashlar: plain cambered-headed openings containing luffers; middle stringcourse of ashlar; yellow-brick dentil eaves below octagonal slate spire with wrought-iron weathervane. The NE. return of the tower is similar (see below under side elevations).
5-bay side elevations: tall semi-circular headed window openings with plain reveals and projecting slate cills; flush yellow-brick quoined window dressings and voussoirs with stone keyblocks. 12-pane windows plus 2 quadrant panes at the top, all enclosed by coloured-glass margin panes. The NW. end bay on S. projects and is further articulated by the ashlar string returning from the S. winged bay of the front elevation. The projection at the NW. end of the N. (NE.) side elevation is for the return elevation of the tower; the narrower arcaded window opening here and other features match those in the front face of the tower (see above).
Rear elevation also of stone with bracket eaves and bargeboard. Attached to it is the 1-storey vestry.
Vestry: stone rubble walls at rear and on SW.. NE. wall of stone in snecked courses with stone plinth with red brick string. Slate roof. External entry in NE. elevation via 2 stone steps to 6 moulded-panel door with deep overlight under brick segmental head; also a window with horns and with yellow brick dressings under cambered head. In rear, SE. elevation, a projecting stone chimney breast with yellow brick stack; to each side, projecting bracket eaves cornice above a semi-circular headed 12-pane window with radiating tracery in its head.
Interior: vestibule with encaustic tile floor of red and black tiles, laid lozenge-wise with red, black and gold tile patterned borders. Painted-brown moulded skirting. Rough rendered walls, scribed as ashlar; thin stopped and chamfered joists to flat white-plaster ceiling, sloping down on NE.. Deep splayed reveals to front doorway with 2-pane fanlight of translucent glass enclosed by gold and blue margin panes with red-glass angle panes. Flanking 2-light flat-arched window openings with round-arched lights, brown-painted cills and centre pilaster, the window lights each with a vertical strip of 3 translucent panes under an arched head and with flanking blue and gold margin panes and red angle panes. A 6-chamfered panel door at NE. end. Inner vestibule wall largely recessed, with a 6-chamfered panel door with moulded frame to each side of 2-tier translucent window with gold, blue and smaller red margin panes. The 2-tier window has etched inscriptions: ""Gwyliaar dy droed pan-fyddech yn myned a dy dduw" Solomon" (upper tier); "Y Goraf oll yw/ y/ mae duw gydna ni" Wesley/ - "Y trefnyddion Wesleyaidd" (lower tier). Rectangular pine umbrella stand in front and sunken doormat panel.
Chapel interior: seat linings of 2-tier chamfered panels, as wall dado. Rough-rendered walls above, scribed as ashlar. Beaded window jambs. Lateral window openings with brown-painted timber cills and splayed reveals and semi-circular heads, the last painted cream; blue and gold-glass margin panes; white crosses on red-glass in bottom angle panes. At NW. end, 2-tier S. windows balanced by matching blind openings against tower wall. NW. end windows with C19 blue and white honeysuckle margin panes, with white rose on red ground in bottom angle panes. At SE. end, giant plaster arch behind pulpit, painted deep cream with mouldings etc picked out in pink and gold; caps with small gold paterae, foliate spandrels, moulded and panelled foliate keyblock; dentil and moulded cornice. Moulded and dentil plaster eaves cornice. Flat, white-plaster ceiling divided into panels by moulded ribs; outer margin panels; circular decorative roses-cum-vents at angles of inner rectangular panel, subdivided by 2 end triangular panels and central pink-plaster rose ornamented with arabesques.
Seating: open bench seats of varnished pine with shaped ends with moulded handrails; chamfered-panel backs; single blocks of seats at sides of 14 seats depth with 5 chamfered-panel backs (nos 7-20 on SW. and 49-62 on NE.). Paired centre block of seats also of 14 seats depth, with discontinuous seat divider and with 5 or 6 chamfered-panel seat backs (nos. 21-34 on SW., and 35-48 on NE..), the rear seats narrower to allow for the chapel doors and with a further, wide and unnumbered seat in front, with harmonium before it. Turned wood lampholders in centre block of seats along side aisles. To each side of Sedd Fawr, 2 blocks of seats (5-panel backs and 4-seats depth) face at right angles on to side of pulpit (1-3 & 4-6 on SW. and 63-65 & 66-68 on NE.).
Sedd Fawr and pulpit: side entrances up 2 steps to rectilinear Sedd Fawr enclosure, curved at its centre front, beneath a lectern with carved brackets; faced with 2-tier moulded panels beneath a balustraded parapet, set between panelled newels with boss caps and grooved ball finials. Flanking, lateral flights of 5 steps to pulpit, the steps and the rectangular pulpit projection with turned baluster parapets between newels as to Sedd Fawr enclosure. Rectangular pulpit projecton with moulded-panel base and, at front above mid cornice, stencilled semi-circular panels set in round-arched arcading above short columns with capitals and key blocks and carved spandrels: 2 panels in front and 1 to each return; sloping lectern on carved brackets. Behind pulpit, bench seat with 3-chamfered panel back beneath pulpit arch (see above). In front of pulpit, a pine table, flanking cupboards and earlier-C20 chairs.
Wall clock with circular face on NE. wall. Harmonium before centre seat: no maker's name apparent; single-manual; fine timber case, partly fretted; low balustraded top parapet.
Memorials: on SE. wall, 1st World War memorial and memorial to Humphrey Jones, y Dwygiwr (1832-95). The latter is in the form of a bronze tablet with white-painted inscription: ""Ei wedi ef oedd ei waith " er cof am Humphrey Jones y dwygiwr a aned yng Ngwarcwm Bach, Tre'r ddol/ Hydref 11, 1832 a fu farw yn/ Chilton, Wisconsin, UDA Mai 8. 1895/ Trwyddo ef, ac yn y pentref hwn./ Y cychwynnodd y diwyciad/ Crefyddol a ymledodd trwy/ Gymru yn y flwyddyn 1859"............Also in SE. end wall, a 6 chamfered-panel door each side of Sedd Fawr: on S. in front of a cupboard and on N., leading up 4 steps to the rear vestry.
Vestry interior: later-C20 floor covering of red carpet tiles; matchboarded dado; pink plaster walls over; picture rail; chamfered window openings with splayed reveals and flat timber cills. White plaster ceiling with centre beam; sloping sides to ceiling and stopped and chamfered beams on N. and S.. Painted and grained pilastered fireplace surround against SE. wall with mantleshelf on paired marble brackets; green and gold painted/stencilled art nouveau motifs on pilasters and lintel. Plain carpeted dais against SW. end wall with high ladder-back chair behind chest cupboard of pine, the latter covered with thick and fringed red cover. Upright piano with labels: "Halleman" & "Hastings Limited, Clapham Junction". Single-manual harmonium by "Bell Organ & Piano Co. Ltd, Guelph, Canada"; carved foliate side panels; candleholders,. Circular wall clock bearing legend: "O. Roberts Caernarvon". Matchboarded NW. porch with single SW. and SE. 4 moulded-panel doors with overlights. 8 iron-framed wood bench seats-cum-desks by "H Addison Co Ltd Wellington Salop"; also 9 iron-framed bench seats with adjustable backs by the same manufacturer.
The chapel is separated from the village street by a stone wall and railings, bounding a grassed forecourt; short panelled iron railings, made up of a circlet band at base, and with scrolls above, the scrolls linked to each other partly by fleur-de-lys finials and with fleur-de-lys finials rising out of the scrolls. A wide path of diamond block paviours of Ruabon type leads up to the chapel doors. Stone boundary walls also on NE. and SW. with rough-hewn blocks of stone as coping; also at rear.
Conclusion: Capel Soar, Tre'r -ddol, resembles other 1870s chapels with its round-arched windows with coloured-glass margin panes and its yellow brick window dressings in the side elevations. Such windows are also found locally, for instance , in the Wesleyan Methodist Capel Bethel, Pontrhydygroes (1873-76) and were also present in the former St. Thomas Wesleyan Chapel, Lampeter (1875). Closer still to Soar are the front gable and hipped wings of, for instance, Shiloh CM Chapel, Lampeter (1874) to Richard Owen's design which also has similar windows. But Soar is distinguished from Shiloh, Lampeter, by its ashlar dressings and by its tower and spire. By its ceiling, Soar is also differentiated from the two Lampeter chapels, and from the Pontrhydygroes chapel; the ceiling of Soar, Tre'r-ddol, more closely resembles those in chapels designed by The Reverend Thomas Thomas Landore, for instance, Capel Seion, Llandysul (1870-71) and Capel Mair, Cardigan (1869-70), both Annibynwyr, and Capel Bethel, Newcastle Emlyn (rebuilt or remodelled, 1869).
Visited 12/11/96 by DJR, PM & OJ. OJ 12/11-1/97.
Gable-end façade; large chapel for such a small village. Single-storey.
Tower and spire to left with a small room at ground floor (some old processional banners preserved there). (Anthony Jones) - Built: 1877 Source:BOW
- Built: 1874 Source:
- Built: 1806 Source:1851 Census
- Date Of Chapel: 1877 Source:
- Built: 1877 Source:SRH
- Rebuilt: 1845 Source:
- Enlarged: 1864 Source:
- Builder: 1877 David Rees,
- Builder: 1874 John Evans,
- Architect: 1877 Richard Owens, Liverpool
- 80: 1851 Standing ()
- 206: 1851 ()
- 44: 1851 ()
- Chapel: 08/11/1996 (Site visit)
- Disused: 5/2006 proposed conversion to holiday unit (Capel Newsletter)
- Disused: 01/2011 ()
- Welsh: ()
- Materials
- Stone
- Monument Type: CHAPEL
- Form: Building
- Storey: Single Storey
- Style: Romanesque
- Gallery: X
- Plan: Gable Entry
- Pulpit Position: Rear wall
- Window Glazing: Margin
- Windows: Mixed
Key Details of this Chapel
Key Dates of this Chapel
Key People in this Chapel History
Capacities during this Chapels History
Changes of Status its History
The Languages of the Chapel during its History
Key Characteristics of this Chapel
3 thoughts on “Soar Methodist Church (wesleyan), Tre'r-ddol”
Leave a Reply Cancel Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
There is no mention here of Soar being used as a community museum from the early 1960s to [?]
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