THORNE CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHAPEL, THORNE, MERRION
										            NPRN 11171

Thorne Chapel was one of the many chapels established following the first ordination of Calvinistic Methodist ministers in 1811, and dates from 1813.  The chapel is said to have been enlarged (perhaps referring to an increase in the number of pews) during the pastorate of the Rev. David Evans 1859-70, and there are a number of additions and alterations that can be attributed to this period, not least the addition of a caretaker’s cottage to the south.  A further restoration appears to have taken place in 1947.

Exterior.

The chapel is rectangular in plan and entry is gained via a porch and single doorway in the centre of the rear (opposite the road) side.  The walls are cement-rendered: pebble-dash, and the gable ends are slightly raised and topped with stone slabs.  The corners have artificial quoins raised in smooth cement, matched by similar surrounds to the windows and a deep plinth skirt around the foot of the walls.  The building has a slate roof with plain, blue ridge-tiles.

The west elevation may be considered as the main façade as it faces the road.  It has three round-headed window openings, each surrounded by a cement dressing, plain, with moulded keystone, springing stones, capitals and intermediates, and a cast cement sill.  The main window is rectangular, 4 panes across by 5 panes high and is fixed.  Above is a semicircular light, originally hinged at the base and opening inwards but now fixed.  In this west wall, these lights are replacements, with a single, centre glazing bar but originally would have been fan lights with curved glazing bars of the same radius as the outer frame arranged to form overlapping pointed arches and resulting in a 10-pane light. 

The north elevation is gabled and plain except for a panel moulded in relief in cement and reading ‘THORNE C. M. CHAPEL 1813-1947’.

The east elevation consists of a window either side of a projecting central porch.  The windows are similar to those in the west elevation but both retain their original fanlights.  The porch is plain and cement rendered with a gabled east elevation in which there is a small square-headed window.  The entrance is in the north wall and is a plain square-headed doorway closed with a simple vertically-boarded door.  The roof is slate topped with red-clay ridge tile with pierced combs.  Adjacent to and running the full length of the east side is a small walled yard with a gated entrance in its north side next to the chapel.  In the southwest corner against the chapel, is a small lean-to accessed externally.

Interior.

The chapel is entered from the porch through a central doorway in the east wall.  The doorway has a round arch similar to that used for the window openings and has a similar semi-circular fanlight.  It was originally the exterior entrance, the porch being a nineteenth century addition.  The doors are double and panelled.  The windows are set in splayed openings with sloping sills.  Both doorway and window openings have a raised plaster band around them, with moulded, daisy-like flowers.  

The pews are in 11 rows with central aisle, the third row from the front missing on the east side to allow access from the doorway.  The rear 5 pews are tiered, the floor rising in steps up to the north wall.  Pews are of 3 varieties.  The first 4 rows are raked, have moulded ends and backs with vertical boarding, and rest on the level part of the floor; these may be original.  They have holes in the back shelf for Communion cups, brass name-card holders, and umbrella loops on the pew ends.  Rows 6 to 11 are raked with panelled backs and no ends and appear to be later; they have simple brass loops to hold Communion cups, on the rear of the seat backs.  The fifth row is and oddity, with a panelled back, but 4 panels instead of 5, and an end; this also has brass loop cup holders.  These pews have the look of having been imported from somewhere else.  The first 4 rows on the west side have been rearranged to accommodate a small dais for the organ.  

The sedd-fawr at south end of the chapel is minimal: a slightly raised dais bounded by straight-backed deacons’ pews.  The pulpit stands centrally against the south wall.  It is single-decked with a plain panelled front, is accessed by steps at either side and has an angled central bay projecting forwards.  The minister’s pew is set against the wall behind it.  On the wall above in the form of a raised moulding, is a halo banner, with ‘daisy’ motif terminals and inscribed in gilt gothic script: ‘O Worship The Lord In The Beauty of Holiness.’

A movable covered wooden font in neo-gothic style, inscribed: ‘Sacred to the memory of George Gwyther 60 years Deacon of this church and of his wife Mary 1892-1952’ stands below the dais.

The ceiling is boarded, chamfered along the long sides.  The floor is wooden floorboards.

A doorway in the left-hand corner of the south wall gives access to a minister’s room.  This has a small, squared-headed window in the east wall and simple pews similar to those of front 4 rows in the chapel, along the south and west walls.  In the southwest corner, a door through the west wall connects with the caretaker’s cottage.  The room is probably a nineteenth-century addition, possibly contemporary with the caretaker’s cottage.

Caretaker’s Cottage.

The caretaker’s cottage is attached to the south end of the chapel, its front set back slightly from the building line of the latter.  It is single storey, apparently brick walls covered externally in pebble dash, with red brick dressings, a slate roof and a red brick chimney at the southern gable.
     Exterior:  The front façade is symmetrical, a slightly camber-headed window either side of a central doorway.  Wooden framed sash windows with 5 across x 4 vertical panes in the upper part, a central vertical glazing bar in the lower.  Concrete sills, red-brick dressings of stepped broad and narrow quoins at the sides, soldiered across the arch.  The doorway is similarly dressed and has a camber-headed arch, above which is a cantilevered pent-roofed storm porch.  The roofs of both the main cottage and the porch are of slate, the former with moulded blue ridge-tiles. 
On the east side is a cat-slide roofed extension, rendered walls and a slate roof, square-headed window openings.  The south gable of the cottage is plain with a red brick chimney.  Attached to this elevation is a corrugated iron extension that houses the bathroom.
     Interior: The plan of the main cottage consists of a central passage leading on from the front door, with a room either side.  The left-hand (northernmost) room has a fireplace in the north wall and a door in the southeast corner leads through to the minister’s room.  The passage leads through to the kitchen, housed in the east extension; this has a square-headed window in the east wall.  A door in the southwest corner gives access into the bathroom, housed in the corrugated iron extension; this has windows in the east and south walls.

(D. J.Percival, 04.09.2004)