THINK of a chapel in an English public school and you probably picture, thanks to Betjeman, a gilded reredos, carved choir stalls, elegant vaulting. On the old stone walls are plaques and tablets commemorating alumni who have won glory in various fields (battlefields, mainly).
My old school chapel wasn’t like this at all. An architectural afterthought, it was tucked into the eaves of an ugly 1950s science block. Carpet tiles, white-painted wooden rafters and joists, dusty dormer windows, a few Christian images dry-mounted and warping in the damp air, a simple metal cross. An unlikely beginning to a journey that would lead eventually, in my case, to being an ordained priest in the Church of England. Mind you, I certainly didn’t see the chapel then as an embarkation point. It…
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Country Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 26, 2025