Wayne Colquhoun outside his new premises.
Image courtesy of Wayne Colquhoun
Viewers of the four-part Our Welsh Chapel Dream, currently showing on Channel 4, have taken to social media to praise the show.
This follows the Great Pottery Throw Down star Keith Brymer Jones and his wife, actor and textile designer Marj Hogarth, as they tackle the restoration of a huge derelict former Salem chapel described as “an unholy mess” and adjacent schoolhouse in Pwllheli, Gwynedd, north Wales.
As covered often in this column, former chapels and churches in general can make a perfect home for atmospheric antiques shops and centres. Here are some more.
Shop with a twist
A bible was still sitting on the pulpit when Art Deco dealer Wayne Colquhoun bought for £60,000 the 19th century Salem chapel in Corris, a former slate mining village in Gwynedd, near Machynlleth, north Wales.
“Just as if the congregation had walked out and closed the door,” he said.
The doors will re-open this month, hopefully, when he launches his antiques and fine art shop called Wayne Colquhoun Antiques & Fine Art on the ground floor with the upper level becoming a three-bedroom apartment.
Wayne Colquhoun in the pulpit.
Iamge courtesy of Wayne Colquhoun
Colquohun, an Antiques Roadshow expert, has given up his antiques shop in Holts Arcade in Liverpool which he ran for two decades to concentrate on his new business where he also plans to run residential courses with some of his Roadshow colleagues.
“I love the idea that I’m breathing new life into a redundant Grade 11-Listed slate-built chapel,” he said.
“I want it to be a traditional antiques shop with a twist. The chapel is yards from the Afon Deri river in the beautiful Dyfi Valley which will all help to make Capel Salem a destination shop.”
Call Wayne Colquhoun on 07732 551198 to check when the new shop will open.
Vernacular taste
Yvonne Holder of Welsh Vernacular Antiques.
Multi-skilled husband and wife team Yvonne and Jonathon Holder have owned Welsh Vernacular Antiques in the hamlet of Pontsaeson, Llanon, near Aberystwyth in west Wales, for 26 years.
They sell by appointment their large stock of Welsh antiques including furniture, textiles, treen and folk art in the vestry to a former 19th century large chapel, also part of their premises.
Jonathon is a master craftsman and harp maker who restores the pieces they sell while Yvonne is also the presenter of the S4C/Channel 4 TV series Trysorau Teulu about antiques and vintage items.
Yvonne said: “The pieces in our showroom are carefully selected, beautifully honest, quality pieces. Imagine walking into a Welsh farmhouse or cottage 200 years ago - all the things you might wish to see are what we deal in.”
You can contact jonathonholder@yahoo.co.uk or call 01545 580010 to make an appointment (also visit @WelshVernacular on Instagram).
