Portmeirion Blue

Moriah Chapel was designed by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, best known as the architect behind Portmeirion, somewhere I'd wanted to visit for years. Knowing that we would be installing an Aga in one of his buildings gave me the perfect opportunity to explore Portmeirion for myself, and to learn a little more about the architect and his work.

The owners have been carefully converting the chapel into a home, retaining as much of its original character as possible while making it comfortable for modern living. The main chapel remains a wonderful open space, incorporating the kitchen, dining and sitting areas, with the original pulpit, pews and organ retained. The former Sunday school rooms are also being incorporated into the living accommodation as bedrooms, bathrooms and ancillary spaces.

The original Moriah Chapel was built in 1866, close to the village bridge in Llanystumdwy. It was destroyed by an accidental fire, and Sir Clough Williams-Ellis was commissioned to design a replacement on a different site, opposite the Lloyd George Memorial Museum.

The new chapel opened on 16 June 1936. A detailed specification for the chapel and adjoining schoolroom, prepared by Williams-Ellis in May of that year, survives in the National Library of Wales.

Moriah Chapel is Grade II listed, reflecting its architectural importance, while the walls and gates enclosing its forecourt are separately listed at Grade II. Williams-Ellis designed its replacement, which opened in 1936. When I spoke with the builder involved in the restoration, he told me that the organ had been rescued from the original chapel following the fire and installed in the new building, where it has remained ever since. It is now included in the building’s listing to preserve its heritage for future
generations.

Our customers opted for a traditional four oven, 30-amp night-storage Aga. This is a heat-storage cooker that's designed to remain on, ideally year round, providing both cooking heat and high levels of radiant warmth to the room. In a large, open space such as the main chapel, that additional heat will be particularly welcome.

Below left is the exterior of the chapel, and on the right is how the interior of the chapel appeared before restoration, with the pews and pulpit that have been incorporated into the new design.

I've wanted to visit Portmeirion for years, so when I knew we were finally going to be installing this Aga, I was determined to make the journey myself. While Steve and Rob were busy with the installation, I headed off to explore the village, fortunate to have a beautiful sunny October afternoon.

Even the approach feels like a real event. As you turn off the main road, you're greeted by distinctive blue-and-yellow signage before making your way through woodland, past Castell Deudraeth and towards the village entrance. Particularly striking is the blue-green colour synonymous with Portmeirion, something that would become especially relevant to the Aga we were installing.

Passing through the Gate House, you find yourself amongst the extraordinary collection of colourful Italianate buildings for which Portmeirion is famous. At times, I really could have been somewhere in Italy rather than North Wales, although the surrounding landscape is unmistakably Welsh. The buildings are set amongst woodland, rocks and gardens, both formal and more unrestrained, with glimpses of the coast appearing between them.

I spent quite some time exploring the idyllic Battery Square and the surrounding buildings, from the hanging black sheep, above which a piper bugles from the balcony, to classical sculptures, pillars and arches. Each building is carefully positioned to respect the natural landscape, nestled into the rocks and cliff faces or carefully positioned to catch the light or to offer a coastal view. The colours are vividly intense, in a way rarely seen in the UK, with bright cobalt blue, terracotta, pale pink, mint green and yellow, all set against the deep natural forest greens of the Welsh landscape.  

As well as the buildings designed especially for the location, the architect incorporated architectural features rescued from other buildings. The Bristol Colonnade and bath house were rescued after WW11 bombings. Here they skirt the formal gardens, offering aged authenticity against the bright paintwork of the newer buildings and avoiding a slide into Disney-esque pastiche.

Sir Clough Williams-Ellis began developing Portmeirion in 1925, gradually creating the village over approximately fifty years. His intention was to demonstrate how architecture could enhance a naturally beautiful landscape without spoiling it.

A particularly interesting aspect of the village is the incorporation of architectural features rescued from buildings elsewhere in Britain.

The Bristol Colonnade originally formed part of the eighteenth-century Arnos Court bathhouse in Bristol. It was dismantled and reconstructed at Portmeirion in 1959.

Hercules Hall, completed in 1938, incorporates an early seventeenth-century interior rescued from Emral Hall in Flintshire. Its elaborate plaster ceiling depicts the Labours of Hercules and the signs of the Zodiac.

These buildings and architectural features were given an entirely new purpose at Portmeirion, preserving elements that might otherwise have been lost. The village has consequently been described as a home for fallen buildings.

For all its Italianate architecture and theatricality, Portmeirion doesn’t feel contrived – it truly belongs. The buildings, gardens and surrounding landscape have been considered together, so that the natural features of the site are as important as the architecture itself.

It reminded me a little of Park Güell in Barcelona. They're obviously very different places, but there's a similarity in the concept, an architect creating not just individual buildings, but a whole place, bringing architecture, gardens and landscape together, reimagining how we might live within them.

After exploring the village, I made my way past the hotel and continued towards the shoreline. The route takes you under trees and through a dark passageway before opening out towards the coast, and I decided to walk further along the headland towards the little lighthouse.

As I continued the landscape became increasingly dramatic. The tide was out, exposing an enormous expanse of sand with streams winding their way across it, sparkling in the low afternoon sunlight. Beyond were the mountains, the rocky coastline and the open estuary.

The view reminded me of parts of the Normandy coast, particularly those vast stretches of sand exposed at low tide. I found it quite overwhelming and was almost moved to tears by the beauty of the landscape – this is a truly special part of the world. Having spent the earlier part of the afternoon amongst Portmeirion's colourful, carefully arranged buildings, the scale and wildness of the coastline came as quite a contrast. 

It seems the setting evoked similar feelings in visitors almost a century ago.  An early advertisement for the Portmeirion Hotel, today posted in a noticeboard outside, describes the estuary, mountains and changing light in wonderfully evocative language that could just as easily have been written about the afternoon I spent there. 

“Port Meirion, Cambrian Coast and its Hotel — A Full and True Account

Picture an almost land-locked estuary ringed around by high-peaked mountains slung like a garland between the great bosses of Snowdon and Cader-Idris.

Picture them, gold and purple, grey and blue, with the sea sparkling about their feet or, in calm, reflecting the sunset radiance on their upper slopes.

Or see them again beyond miles of glistening sand, the shadows of flying clouds racing over and across their rugged flanks.

Such are the prospects from Port Meirion.”

I looped back to the village, wandering through winding paths of the woodland and gardens and discovering more of the quieter corners of the estate. The Chinese Lake, though somewhat parched by the summer’s drought, chimed with the tone of many an English country estate’s garden but here was flanked by pagodas and sculptures of the architect’s unique design (in this area aided apparently by his daughter, Susan). 

Eventually I found myself back amongst the colourful buildings, fountains and formal gardens, where families were enjoying the afternoon and children were playing around the giant chessboard. I look forward to returning some time soon with my own children.

One of the buildings that particularly struck me was the Campanile, the beautiful Italianate bell tower that rises above the village. More than almost anything else at Portmeirion, it made me feel I could have been in Italy rather than North Wales.

There was music playing from time to time, and at five o'clock the bell tower suddenly burst into an entire tune, rather than simply chiming the hour. It was slightly surreal, but completely joyful.

I could easily have spent longer exploring Portmeirion, and I came away feeling that there was still plenty I hadn't seen. I scooped up some souvenirs in one of the gift shops, along with a couple of books on the village, to continue my exploration at home.

Back at Moriah Chapel, I found myself looking more closely at some of its architectural details. It's obviously a very different building from those at Portmeirion, constructed in stone and designed for an entirely different purpose, but there are recognisable touches, including the little bellcote, the distinctive stonework and the blue-green painted doors.

I also found myself thinking about Williams-Ellis's approach to preserving architectural features and giving them a new purpose. Although Portmeirion and Moriah Chapel are very different projects, there's a common thread in the way the buildings and their surroundings have been considered, and in the importance placed on preserving architectural character.

That idea of reusing and respecting what's already there, rather than throwing it away, feels very familiar to me. It's what we do with a reconditioned Aga. We keep the heritage and the character but make it work for a contemporary home.

It's also very much what our customers have been doing at Moriah Chapel, retaining the character and history of an important building while adapting it to provide a comfortable family home.

When our customers originally ordered their Aga, they chose Kingfisher Blue, but as the chapel restoration progressed, they decided they wanted to use the distinctive blue-green colour associated with Portmeirion instead.

They managed to obtain an original colour sample from Portmeirion itself, which they sent to us so that the shade could be reproduced in enamel. The Aga was subsequently re-enamelled in Portmeirion Blue Green, a colour that also appears in details throughout the chapel.

Although we offer an extensive range of Aga enamel colours, we can also arrange for a bespoke colour to be created to match a customer's particular requirements. It's a considerably more involved process than simply mixing paint, as Aga castings are finished in vitreous enamel, which is fired onto the cast iron at extremely high temperatures.

The colour matching and enamelling are undertaken by a specialist enameller with whom we work. The process begins with a physical sample of the colour the customer wishes to reproduce, which we send to the enameller. They then work to create a matching enamel colour before producing a fired sample for the customer to approve.

Once the customer is happy with the colour, the Aga's cast-iron panels can be shot blasted and re-enamelled in the chosen shade. The entire process requires specialist equipment and expertise and is carried out by the enameller rather than at our own workshop.

We even arranged for their traditional Aga iron to be enamelled to match, something we'd never done before. It's a small detail, but one that reflects the thought our customers have put into the project and the connection between their home and Portmeirion.

After more than five years, it was wonderful to see the Aga finally installed in its new home. I think there's a close connection between the restoration of Moriah Chapel and the reconditioning of the traditional Aga itself. Both are about retaining something of the past, respecting its character and giving it a new lease of life. And with the Aga finished in Portmeirion Blue Green, there's an additional connection to Clough Williams-Ellis and the wonderful village of Portmeirion that he created. It's been a fascinating project for us to be involved in and one I'm very pleased to have finally seen come together.