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Chapter 4 / The Chapel
THE CHAPEL
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.
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
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.
The Quad Seen Through the Lodge Archway
, painting by Hugh Buchanan, 1986.
Chapter 4