AN APPEAL has been set up to save “one of Wales’ most iconic chapels” and an integral part of Tremadog’s history.

The campaign to protect a stunning example of chapel architecture, Peniel Chapel, was launched earlier this week.

A further £15,000 is required to save the Grade I listed Chapel, one of only five in Wales, which has already attracted well over £130,000 in grants.

The aim is to hit the target so that renovation work on the pediment can be completed in line with current plans to repair the roof.

A spokesperson for Addoldai Cymru, the company looking to save the building, said: “Peniel Chapel’s innovative gable front and auditorium plan proved highly influential in the evolution of Welsh chapel design whilst its pedimented portico with Tuscan columns has made it instantly recognisable.

“Tremadog was the project of London entrepreneur, William Madocks, who bought the marsh land in 1798 and envisioned it as a settlement on the trade route between London and Ireland.

“The Calvinistic Methodist chapel was finished in 1810 and, when enlarged in 1849 to the original designs, it was possibly the most iconic chapel in Wales, its temple front loosely based on Inigo Jones’ St Paul’s, Covent Garden.”

If the appeal succeeds, the roof and pediment work will be completed by the end of 2018 – over 200 years after the chapel was built.

Tremadog councillor Alwyn Gruffydd, who has already donated £100 to the appeal, said: “Capel Peniel is of huge religious, architectural and historical importance to us in Tremadog and to a wider audience who have an interest in Wales’ non-conformist tradition.

”If the building and unique pediment is not restored then there is a real danger of further deterioration and possibly the loss of an integral part of the Tremadog landscape and community resource.”

Newsreader Huw Edwards, patron of Addoldai Cymru, addeed: “Peniel is one of only five Grade I listed Chapels in Wales, listed as an exceptionally early and accomplished large classical style chapel, unlike any Welsh chapel of the period.

“Saving this building is incredibly important.”