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The Chapel PDF Print E-mail
The Chapel was built in 1951 on the site of the bombed parish church together with the residential extension to the Master’s House. Simple, rectangular and brick-faced, reflecting post-war austerity, it was substantially re-ordered in 2004, in memory of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to create a brighter and lighter interior with its enlarged windows, increase its capacity and flexibility for worship and integrate it with the expanded residential accommodation and garden.

Entering the Chapel, two (probably 19th century) figures of King Edward III and Queen Philippa stand outside the West Door. In the newly vaulted Ante-Chapel above the door a stained glass window, designed by the late Alan Younger, shows the Royal & Bowes Lyon shields of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother surrounded by the Foundation’s motto “Worship, Hospitality and Service”.

The Font on a 17c. column was given by Queen Victoria and the Pascal Candlestick depicts St. Blaise and St. Katharine. The Memorial to the right is to Joanna Caesar (d.1694). The fine glazed entry doors came from Andrew Poynter’s 1828 chapel in Regent’s Park. Above them as you enter the re-ordered Chapel, you will see beautiful 17th century carved panels with putti, the side ones making music and singing.

The richly carved Choir Stalls came from the medieval Church of St. Katharine’s by the Tower and are outstanding on a national level as examples of 14th century wood-carving. They are alas only a fragment of the 24 canopied stalls existing there in the 18th century.

All these stalls have Miserichords with delightful lively figures including an Angel blowing Bagpipes, an Elephant with Castle and Rider and on a single chair the Devil gripping Two Chattering Women.

The unusual hexagonal Pulpit has marquetry panels of domed and spired churches. The chamber Organ was built by John Avery in 1790 and restored in 1956 by Noel Mander.

The Altar in Welsh slate, designed by Keith Murray and carved with inscriptions from Roman catacombs by Ralph Bayer, was situated in 1951 controversially in the centre of the Chapel with a skeletal spidery baldocino above it. The altar was moved to the east end in 2004 to create more space for worship.

On the Oak Panelling around the Chapel are 19th century Coats of Arms of some of the Masters of the Foundation from the 15th -19th century.

In the centre of the Chapel floor, a Compass Rose was laid in 2004 with a circle of granite brought back from St. Katharine’s Monastery on the slopes of Mount Sinai, the oldest Christian Monastery in the world. The eight arms of the compass denote the seven days of creation and the Day of Resurrection and point to the ends of the earth bidding us “Go, proclaim the Gospel to all nations”. The encircling rim is inscribed with words of St. Augustine of Hippo “We do not come to God by navigation but by love.”

At the East End above the Altar is a remarkable relief of the Adoration of the Magi which was moved out of the Cloister in 2004 and restored. The iconography is identical to a painting of the 1470’s by Benevenuto di Giovanni in the National Gallery.

Above the Reredos, an East Window was installed in 2004 depicting impressionistically the wheel on which St. Katharine was tortured prior to execution. It was designed by Alan Younger whose work can also be seen in the Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey and in St. Albans Cathedral.

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 June 2009 11:25