St Edward's, 150 Years

Chapter 4 / The Chapel

Left: Chapel today. Below left: Wash drawing (cropped) by Nicholas Paul Sutcliffe (G, 1991–6). Right: Warden Simeon precariously balanced in a bucket in the rain in 1876 putting in place the topmost stone of the tower – artist unknown.

Chapter 4

THE CHAPEL

At least half of the cost of the building (£5,000) was by donation, and during construction services were conducted in the Beauchamp Dormitory in School House, which had become a temporary Oratory. By March 1876 the Chapel had reached roof height and work started on the tower. The first organ was ordered and in November, exactly four years after the laying of the foundation stone, the topmost stone of the tower was placed in position by the Warden himself, hauled up in a precarious bucket to an accompaniment provided by the surpliced choir, who were on the highest scaffolding possible, singing in the pouring rain. The appearance of the Warden was caricatured by an unknown artist at the time (see above) . Celebrations later that day included a rugby match against an OSE team, a dinner for the workmen, described as a ‘sumptuous feast’, fireworks and the Summertown Band playing. The Bishop of Oxford subsequently consecrated the Chapel, a decision which was roundly criticised due to the close association of Simeon with the Oxford Movement, and

F or Simeon the key feature of the School was to be the Chapel, built 1872–7.The building certainly stands out in the Quad as it is built in Gibraltar and Bath stone rather than red brick, and the tower is impressively tall – as intended. Simeon planned it as the heart of the School, physically and spiritually, and in this he succeeded. It was not in fact the first building to go up, as we have seen in Chapter 1, since the School Buildings, adjacent Dining Hall,Warden’s House, Common Room and dormitories were completed in 1873.The Chapel was designed byWilliamWilkinson, the architect of all the early buildings for the School and much of North Oxford for St John’s College; he later worked with his nephew, H.W. Moore, at the School and elsewhere. The foundation stone for the Chapel was laid on 25 November 1872, when the ‘Festival of the Stone’ was held by Warden Simeon. It was very much an Oxford Movement event, with the choir in surplices carrying the cross and banners, which they paraded through the Keble Dormitory, Warden’s Rooms and then into the temporary Chapel. The large number of visitors attending processed down the main staircase singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, and out to the corner where the stone was to be laid. The Bishop of Oxford, John Fielder Mackarness, was present, and he laid the stone and then gave an address, after which the choir and congregation returned to the Dining Hall singing ‘The Church’s One Foundation’. Lunch was attended by 200 and Simeon toasted the Bishop and vice versa, to thunderous applause.

The Quad Seen Through the Lodge Archway , painting by Hugh Buchanan, 1986.

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