WORK to safeguard a historical building and monument for decades to come is to start next week.
Built in 1965 to commemorate the flooding of Capel Celyn village to construct a reservoir to provide a water supply for the Wirral and the city of Liverpool, Celyn Memorial Chapel near Bala has largely remained untouched since it’s construction.
Said to be designed to resemble a ship emerging from the lake, the chapel will receive improvement work to help make the building watertight to preserve its history.
The building comes under the care of Welsh Water as part of their undertaking to operate Llyn Celyn Reservoir, Dam and hydro equipment.
Work, beginning on July 20, is expected to take four months and should be finished by mid-November.
Capel Celyn memorial chapel before conservation work
Andrew Dixon, from Welsh Water who oversees the operations at Llyn Celyn, said: "As a company we understand how important Celyn Memorial Chapel is to the people of Wales that’s why over the next few months we’ll be carrying out conservation work on the Chapel to preserve the building’s construction and integrity.
"Over the years water has seeped into the building, and as it was built without electricity or heating it has meant that over time the building has become damp.
"We have been carrying out routine maintenance on the building over the years, but this is the first time we have carried out major improvements to the chapel.
The not-for-profit company have been working with Cadw and a specialist architect to come up with the best solution to making the building watertight while also preserving its heritage and appearance.
Work includes removing the current mortar and repointing inside and outside the building and recapping of the roof to prevent rainwater ingress.
Further improvements will be carried out next year to preserve the internal walls of the building.
The chapel was built on the bank of the lake using many of the stones from the original chapel overlooking where the old chapel stood.
Some of the gravestones from the cemetery have also been relocated to the adjoining yard and a memorial board of those buried in the village is housed inside the chapel.
Mr Dixon added: “Last year we were lucky enough that Cadw registered Capel Celyn Memorial Chapel as a Grade 2* listing for its special architectural and historic interest."
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