1 min read
1 min read
As well as Snowdon, we’re also working to care for the summit of the ‘Chapel’. At our Llanberis station, the building is thought to precede the railway, making it over 120 yrs old.
Mysteriously, very little is known about this structure and its history. Though one thing is for sure, it has a mighty durable roof!
This is the first time we have ever had to carry out restoration work on the Chapel’s roof- and we’ve been operating here since 1896!
The Task
The beauty of slate roofing is its seemingly timeless resilience to weather and wear. Because of this, we are able to reuse many of the original slate tiles in this restoration task.
And what a good thing that is too! The very large original tiles, known as ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ size slates, are very hard to come by nowadays. So much like the building itself, with its mismatched extensions, the roof will now be a mosaic of old and new.
Robust Remains
In this post you can see images of the original large nails used to pin the slates. These were handmade and have survived
remarkably well for their super-centenarian age. We also found a number of these small wooden pegs, also used in securing the slate tiles. Still sturdy and functional they really have stood the test of time!
Puzzling Pictures
A deconsecrated chapel? A flat roofed hut? What was this building originally?
As you can see from a couple of the pictures we have collected (the chapel is hiding in the background), it is unclear as to when and for what purpose this architectural anomaly was built…
If you can help us in our quest to tell the real story of this noble building then please do get in contact.
