page_title: Peniel Chapel
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Peniel Chapel / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Peniel Chapel interior
context_page_description: Peniel Chapel is a former Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Tremadog, Gwynedd. It is one of five Grade I-listed nonconformist chapels in Wales. It is in a neoclassical style inspired by mid-17th century St Paul's Church in Covent Garden, London. Its interior theater auditorium concept influenced Welsh church architecture from the nineteenth century.
context_section_description: The chapel is at the south end of Tremadog and is located opposite the birthplace of T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"). The chapel has a 46-foot roof span. It faces east with two front doors and sits on the back part of the property. The land was leased for 99 years from Maddocks for a low annual fee. It is a large chapel for its period. Its main feature is the temple gable-end frontage. The side walls are rough rubble stone of large blocks and it has a slate roof of projecting eaves. Its building design was influenced by St Paul's Church in London, originally built in 1633 to a design by Inigo Jones.
  Welsh chapels up until that point had the facing wall with the pulpit located between two front doors. Peniel Chapel changed this interior design concept to one resembling the auditorium of a theatre. The chapel interior, with a ramped gallery floor, has the pulpit on the opposite side from the front doors. This was the first example of such a layout in a Welsh chapel and was highly influential for later chapel architecture in Wales. Notable later examples of this style were in the settlements of Seion, Cwmaman, Bethesda, Gwynedd, and Llanrwst, Conwy County Borough.
  
  The façade has a 3-bay Tuscan portico, which was part of the original design but was not actually installed until 1849. The two front doors lead into a lobby with staircases going to galleries. Three 12-pane sash windows let in sunlight for the main floor. On the back part of the chapel high up and a little to one side is a Gothic rose window.
  The main chapel entry is through panelled doors. The interior plaster walls have designs. The ceiling has large panels and ribs. The ceiling has in the center an ornate rose. The gallery that was expanded to three sides in 1880 has a paneled soffit. There is a clock on the center panel. The box pews are numbered. The large front set has a paneled back. The pulpit has steps on the right and left of it. It has lathe worked balusters and newels.  The ornate front has fluted pilasters under the consoles. The altarpiece has grooved pilasters with leaves of plants. It has a round molded arch.
  Improvements made in the twentieth century were a new gallery and pulpit. A schoolroom and storage room were also an addition, built on the north side of the chapel. Paneled doors to the right and left of the pulpit go to the schoolroom and storage room. The right side schoolroom wall has split oak boards of a unique design.
caption: Peniel Chapel interior
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