The work of local architect Sidney Colwyn Foulkes.
Background
Miners Lane runs off Abergele Road, Old Colwyn, close to the top of the hill towards LLanddulas, just before where the Hotel 70 degrees once stood. Observant travellers leaving or approaching Old Colwyn may notice a very pleasing and unusual building with an ecclesiastical appearance on the side of Miners Lane. Prior to the improvement and realignment of Abergele Road in 1937 Miners Lane formed part of that main road. What was the former Bethel Chapel replaced a previous chapel which was further up Miners Lane and which was demolished to enable the road improvement to take place. The present building is in what was previously the rear yard and entrance to two small shops and the old “Miners Arms” public house.
Architectural description
The current building was designed by Sidney Colwyn Foulkes as a chapel and was converted into a home several years ago. Its site has been created by cutting into the hillside such that it seems rather cramped with a steep rock face immediately to the rear. The building has a steep slate roof with a small brick chimney at the back. The rendered walls have been painted a creamy off-white colour which perfectly complements the red sandstone used for the front windows and doorway.
The front elevation has a gabled slate roof with a finial. The tall mullioned windows in the gable is a particularly pleasing feature with its shallow segmented arched top. This window is divided into nine panes. A narrow ventilation or decorative slit is located high up in the gable above the window. The wide doorway is framed by a sandstone architrave. The door is modern – perhaps originally when it was a chapel there would have been a pair of doors leading into a lobby.
Front elevation to Miners Lane
As with many of Sidney Colwyn Foulkes’ buildings note the curved or rounded profile of the stone mullions and transoms and the architraves of the doorway. (A mullion is the vertical divide in a window and the transom is the horizontal division.
Feature entrance doorway
An architrave is the joint between the frame of an opening and the wall finish, particularly plaster at a door or window.) It is also worth noting the brackets which run up the verges of the front gable, presumably corresponding with the wall plates and purlins. Above the brackets the narrow barge boards are simple, decorated with curved shapes.
Amusing garden feature
Acknowledgement: David Birch
Read more about Sidney Colwyn Foulkes and his work here.
