Penuel Chapel, Bwlch, Breconshire

Description

Name: Penuel Chapel

Denomination: Independent

Built: 1817
Re-built: 1844, 1863, 1874
Renovated: 1895
Closed: 2013 (converted to private residence)

Exterior Photography: John Ball
Date: 16 October 2013
Camera: Canon IXUS 115 HS digital compact

Interior Photography: Sara Care
Date: 24 September 2013
Camera: Olympus E-P1 digital compact

Note 1: Penuel Chapel was first built in 1817 and rebuilt in 1844, 1863 and 1874, with further works in 1895. The present chapel dates from 1874 in the Simple Round-Headed style, of the long-wall entry type. [Source: Coflein database; NPRN 6105]

Note 2: Penuel Chapel closed in 2013 and was sold for conversion into a private residence. Prior to the sale, the Presbyterian Church arranged for the removal of twenty-four gravestones clustered around the left hand front and side of the chapel, and their subsequent relocation elsewhere in the graveyard. Their original site can now only be used as a garden. Many of these gravestones are visible in the photograph below, taken before their removal. [Source: Personal correspondence with present owners, dated 20 February 2014]

Note 3: The interior photographs below are available by kind permission of Sara Care.

Image 3, 4:

Rows of banked wooden pews facing the front (south) wall of the chapel.

Image 5: Detail of access gate into pew number 15.

Image 6, 7:

Two wall-mounted commemorative plaques inside the chapel. Sir Joseph Bailey is famed for his centennial edition (between 1909 and 1930) of Theophilus Jones's A History of the County of Brecknock.

Image 8:

Well-stocked bookcase in the chapel.

• http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/churches/bwlch1.htm (link opens in new window)