Rare chapel seeks tenant (From Western Telegraph)

Rare chapel seeks tenant

WORK on the only surviving neo-classical church in Wales is on course to be finished next month - but the hunt is still on for a tenant.

The renovation of the Garrison Chapel in Pembroke Dockyard is being funded through the Pembroke Dock Townscape Heritage Initiative and planning permission and building regulations are in place for it to be used as an office space.

David Davies, who is co-ordinating the project on behalf of Pembrokeshire County Council, said some internal finishes needed to be added before anticipated completion in mid-April.

"Works are also in hand to carry out external works and landscaping within the final period of the current Townscape Heritage Initiative scheme, with emphasis on careful management of the balance of car parking and landscaping to preserve and enhance the setting of the chapel,'' said Mr Davies.

The chapel, the second most important building in the Dockyard after Paterchurch Tower, has a long and distinguished history.

It was designed by the naval architect George Taylor and built by the Admiralty in 1831 as a place of worship for men employed in the Dockyard.

Previously, they had to crowd into a wooden shed for services conducted by the vicar of Pembroke. When the chapel opened it had its own naval chaplain.

The building had a small chancel lit by a stained glass window, in memory of the officers and crew lost at sea in HMS Atalanta.

There was also a nave with aisles and galleries and a particularly fine church organ.

The pews in the body of the church were reserved for officers and men of the Dockyard, while visiting soldiers and sailors were obliged to sit in the north and south galleries.

The most interesting part of the chapel is its rare domed roof.