Archive - Thursday, 24 October 2002


Find by date

Other ways to search

Also look for

Never miss anything again. Sign up for our RSS news feeds and Newsletters.

A Victorian opulence

TUCKED away in Castle Howard, unassumingly waiting for visitors behind the Long Gallery, is a small but imposing chapel, perhaps one of Castle Howard's finest kept secrets.

The stately home's website does not boast about the chapel. In fact it makes little mention of it at all.

But decorated between the years 1870 and 1875 under the direction of Lord Lanerton, it would be difficult to find a place of worship more of its time than this particular Anglican chapel, which is quite simply a stunning example of Victorian art and opulence. A marvellous testament to what beautiful things and what awe-inspiring places the Victorians were able to create.

The chapel contains mahogany, oak and rich decoration aplenty. Every inch of wall space, column width and floor area is covered with friezes, frescoes and stencils. Majestic columns hold up a richly-decorated ceiling and the altar is overlaid with burnished reds, golds and green.

The space drips with a pre-Raphaelite romance which must have been greatly influenced by George Howard, the 9th Earl of Carlisle, who was the last Earl of Carlisle to reside at Castle Howard and a patron of the pre-Raphaelite circle, counting Edward Burne Jones and William Morris among his friends.

Being part of a private house, the chapel has been kept in fantastic condition. The existing fittings and features have been extensively restored, including an impressive screen by William Morris which depicts women from Chaucer's poem The Legend of Good Women, and a vast organ, built by Harrison and Harrison, which was overhauled at a cost of £36,000 between 1991 and 1992. The restoration of the organ alone amounted to almost 43 times its original price, which was £835 in 1875.

But the crowning glory of the chapel has to be the stained glass windows, which were designed by Burne Jones and executed by Morris and Co. They depict the New Testament scenes of The Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi and Flight into Egypt, as well as the symbols of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The windows are hinged so that the casement pivots away from the frame and the penetration of light through the brightly-coloured glass lends a calm, almost surreal, serenity to the space.

The chapel is a working one and is in use throughout the year for Howard family marriages, baptisms and funerals. "I was christened here and my funeral will be held here," said Simon Howard, reinforcing both the gravity and function of the place. A stern reminder of the purpose, as well as beauty, of North Yorkshire's churches.

A ten minute service for visitors is held in the Castle Howard chapel on Saturdays and Sundays at 5.15pm. Castle Howard is open daily between March 15 and November 3.

Updated: 11:38 Thursday, October 24, 2002