Portland Chapel (Chapel Rock Gymnasium) With Attached Arches Wall and Railings
PORTLAND CHAPEL (CHAPEL ROCK GYMNASIUM) WITH ATTACHED ARCHES WALL AND RAILINGS, NORTH PLACE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1387374
- Date first listed:
- 05-May-1972
- List Entry Name:
- Portland Chapel (Chapel Rock Gymnasium) With Attached Arches Wall and Railings
- Statutory Address:
- PORTLAND CHAPEL (CHAPEL ROCK GYMNASIUM) WITH ATTACHED ARCHES WALL AND RAILINGS, NORTH PLACE
Have you got a photo to share?
Join the Missing Pieces Project. We want you to share your photos and memories.
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-08-14
- Reference:
- IOE01/08722/06
- Rights:
- © Mr Rodney Allen. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1387374
- Date first listed:
- 05-May-1972
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 26-Nov-1998
- List Entry Name:
- Portland Chapel (Chapel Rock Gymnasium) With Attached Arches Wall and Railings
- Statutory Address 1:
- PORTLAND CHAPEL (CHAPEL ROCK GYMNASIUM) WITH ATTACHED ARCHES WALL AND RAILINGS, NORTH PLACE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- PORTLAND CHAPEL (CHAPEL ROCK GYMNASIUM) WITH ATTACHED ARCHES WALL AND RAILINGS, NORTH PLACE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Gloucestershire
- District:
- Cheltenham (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SO 95081 22707
Details
CHELTENHAM
SO9522NW NORTH PLACE 630-1/10/591 (East side) 05/05/72 Portland Chapel (Chapel Rock Gymnasium) with attached arches, wall and railings (Formerly Listed as: NORTH PLACE North Place Evangelical Church)
GV II
Chapel, now gym with attached arches, wall and railings. 1816 at the expense of Robert Capper, for the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection; with portico added 1865. Cost »5-6,000. Ashlar over brick with hipped slate roof. Plain rectangular box with sill band, first-floor band and parapet, (latter inscribed Countess of Huntingdon's Connection). Gothic Revival style. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys on basement, 3 first-floor windows. 2 tiers of windows, the lower tier have wooden mullion and transom windows with fixed lights, the upper in pointed-arched recesses with Y-tracery. Entrance: steps to central pointed-arched doorway within portico with paired Roman Doric columns. Crowning frieze, cornice and low parapet. Similar 4-window returns have similar fenestration. Basement has 10/10 sashes. INTERIOR: retains galleries on iron column clusters , 2 staircases with stick balusters and wreathed handrails. reputed to retain king post roof. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: pedestrian arches to right and left, attached wall at left approx 1.5m high which extends for approx 14m. Railings to sides of porch have scrolled lozenge motif. Area railings are alternately arched sticks and trefoil-headed. HISTORICAL NOTE: Formerly known as Portland Chapel, this was the first nonconformist Gothic Revival building erected in Cheltenham; the portico may have come from another chapel. In 1819 it was gifted to the Countess of Huntingdon's Connection. Rowe noted in his Cheltenham Guide, written in 1845 but published in 1850 that the interior had `spacious galleries'. Formerly had a iron chancel screen and font cover produced by William Letheran's Vulcan Iron Works. Little describes this as a `charming .. facade that happily blends churchwarden Gothic windows with porch columns in Roman Doric'. Abuts to rear No.32 Portland Street (qv), probably built as
the vicarage. (Sampson A and Blake S: A Cheltenham Companion: Cheltenham: 1993-: 70,90; RCHME: Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting-Houses: Gloucestershire: London: 1986-: 76; Blake S: Cheltenham's Churches and Chapels AD 773-1883: Cheltenham: 1979-: 9; Rowe G: Illustrated Cheltenham Guide: Cheltenham: 1850-1969: 61; Little B: Cheltenham: London: 1952-: 55).
Listing NGR: SO9508122707
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 475330
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting Houses Gloucestershire, (1986), 76
Sampson, A, Blake, S, A Cheltenham Companion, (1993), 70,90
Rowe, G, Illustrated Cheltenham Guide 1850-1969, (), 61
Little, B, Cheltenham, (1952), 55
Blake, S, Cheltenhams Churches and Chapels AD 773-1883, (1979), 9
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 19-Jun-2026 at 18:21:29.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.