Module Information

The module aims to:
A. combine a general overview of the historical development of chapel buildings and architecture with a series of in-depth studies of the work of particular architects and chapels derived from new research in the field
B. study chapel building in the eighteenth and nineteenth century Wales, principally, within a visual, historical, socio-economic, and theological context
C. provide students knowledge of current practices and methods of chapel preservation through field-study experience in chapel recording, and in developing and accessing a data-base system for storing recorded information
D. mount an historiographic examination of key texts on chapel architecture written during the period of study
E. where relevant, address chapel building during this period to precedents in the seventeenth century and cognate building practices in Great Britain, Europe, and the United States of America

Lectures and seminars will be drawn from the following:

Backgrounds
1. Lecture: The Protestant Reformation of Church Architecture
2. Lecture: 'After the Fire' 1: Secession, Revival, and the Roots of Nonconformity
3. Lecture: 'Between Magnificence and Meanness': The Theological Significance of the Meeting-House and Early Chapels
4. Lecture: 'After the Fire' 2: Wren's Parish Churches after 1675, and their Relation to Nonconformist Chapels
5. Lecture: 'After the Pattern God had shown them': Biblical Connotations of the Classical-Styled Chapel
6. Lecture: Writing on the Walls 1: Word-orientated Elaborations of the Victorian Chapel Interior
Case Studies by Region
7. Lecture: Religious Buildings in Nineteenth Century Industrial Communities of Wales
8. Lecture: Chapels in Cardiganshire
9. Lecture: Chapels in Aberystwyth 1
10. Lecture: Chapels in Aberystwyth 2
Conservation, Representation, and Interpretation
11. Lecture/Seminar: Capel/Place: The Chapel as a Pictorial Subject, and a Motif in Welsh Landscape Art
12. Field Study: Visit to Capel Pen-Rhiw (rebuilt at St. Fagan's) and Examples of City and Urban Chapels in Cardiff and the Valleys
13. Lecture/Seminar: Writing on the Walls 2: The Historiography of Chapel Studies
14. Lecture/Field Study: Recording Chapels: An Introduction to the RCAHMW Chapel Project (Part 1)
15. Lecture/Field Study: Recording Chapels: An Introduction to the RCAHMW Chapel Project (Part 2)
16. Workshop: Creating and Using RCAHMW's Chapel Data-Base

Case studies by Architect
11. Lecture: Richard Owen and Richard Williams
12. Lecture: Thomas Thomas: The Buildings of the First National Chapel Architect in Wales
13. Lecture: John Pritchard: A Nineteenth Century Church Architect in Wales
14. Lecture: John Humphrey: The Architect of the 'Cathedral of Nonconformity'
15. Lecture: Owen Morris Roberts: The Chapels of a Gwynedd Chapel Architect

The module will assist the development of the following academic and transferable skills:

• Self-directed project work is developed through self-directed library research and, where appropriate, visits to local chapel sites towards the completion of the assessed essay.
• IT and information handling is developed in the context of on-site digital photographing, and data-base writing and access management under the supervision and training of RCAHMW staff.
• Writing in an academic context is developed and assessed through the essay and the project document.
• Oral discussion and presentation is developed (though not assessed) chiefly through collaborative discussion with RCAHMW staff responsible for the field study and data-base management, and an essay tutorial with the Module Co-ordinator.
• Careers need awareness is developed (though not assessed) through hands-on experience in the professional practice of architectural history, preservation, and archiving.
• Self-management N/A
• Group activity is developed (though not assessed) through collaborative work with RCAHMW staff responsible for the field study and data-base management..