This enchanting Methodist Church, with an attached Sunday School Room, stands at the centre of the charming Welsh town of Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire. Internal accommodation extends to over 4,200 sq ft, and permission has been granted to sensitively convert both buildings to the plans of acclaimed architectural practice Rural Office, details of which can be shared upon request. The result will be a wonderful three-bedroom house with adjoining guest accommodation.
We’ve written about life here in more depth.
Setting the Scene
The façde of the church is immediately striking from the road; flanking turrets sit atop the chapel, and walls are built of snecked rubble and ashlar dressings. The church entrance is in an advanced central section, with a large semi-circular topped doorway and a moulded arch detail. Above this is a triplet of tall semi-circular-headed lancets, with pierced circles above the main light and under the moulded head. For more information, please see the History section below.
The Grand Tour
Rural Office’s proposal is to create a modern and open-plan living space, consolidating the original chapel with its new use as a home. Currently, the central projection has a low-pitch gable between square pilasters flanked by side bays of solid timber pews. The side elevations have rectangular windows below and semi-circular headed windows above.
In the proposal, entry will be to the main family space, with a utility room and WC on either side. The chapel will retain the two flights of stairs at the entrance hall, connecting the ground and first-floor gallery.
Much of the room will remain as it did as a chapel, with high vaulted ceilings creating a large, double-height family space and a gallery surrounding it; the gallery space will be converted into an office with a cosy snug and a fireplace.
On the ground floor, the organ will be removed to create a bedroom in its chamber. Acoustically and visually divided from the rest of the dwelling by a glazed screen and folding panels made from the re-used ground floor pews, this will be a private space with an en suite bathroom.
A series of inhabited walls will sit under the gallery, enveloping the existing columns and creating intimate bedrooms on either side of the chapel. Panelling here will be made from repurposed pews, stained to a grey tone to provide a visual distinction between original and new.
The adjoining Sunday School will be split into two guest accommodation annexes. The first one on the ground floor will be entered from its own lobby from the alleyway. The second will be a studio annexe on the first floor, also accessed from its own ground floor lobby and staircase; the existing bathroom and kitchenette will be retained.
There are plans to upgrade the glazing to provide secondary thermal and acoustic protection throughout the chapel.
The Great Outdoors
Private courtyards surround the chapel, bound by iron railings, and offer good scope for development.
Out and About
Familiarly known as ‘Lani’, Llanidloes is at the heart of the ancient medieval kingdom of Arwystli, the first town on the River Severn and the gateway to the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales. The house is in the heart of the town and is a stone’s throw from its shops, pubs and cafés. Great Oak Foods offers local and organic produce, while the Trewythen Hotel is a good option for lunch and overnight visitors. The Red Lion Hotel offers traditional pub food, and every Saturday, the town hosts an outdoor Saturday market.
Llanidloes is two hours drive from Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff. Regular trains run from Caersws station, which is under a 15-minute drive away.
History
The present chapel occupies a prominent site in the town. Built in 1874, to the design of architect Robert Owen in the Italiante gothic style it replaced the Long Bridge Methodist Church which was built in 1802.
The origins of Llanidloes go back to the 7th-century when it is said the Celtic Saint Idloes laid the foundations of a church on a tableland overlooking the Severn. The town began to expand after the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066 when a motte and bailey castle was In 1280 Llanidloes obtained its first Charter, granted by Edward I, and this was followed in 1344 by a Charter making the town a self-governing borough; a status that was retained until as recently as 1974.
Perhaps the most striking single incident in the town’s long history grew out of the depression in the flannel industry and the movement for political reform in the 1830s. Llanidloes was not unique in having a Chartist movement, but at the end of April 1839 a collection of circumstances led to a riot that effectively overthrew the constituted authority of the town’s officials for five days until troops could be mustered to ‘restore order’.
Llanidloes remained an occupied town for a whole year, whilst several trials saw sentences of transportation and imprisonment imposed on over a hundred people.
Interested? Let’s talk
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