Chapel Of The Venerable Bede

Chapel of the Venerable Bede

This Anglican chapel was built in 1939 to designs by architects Seeley & Paget, completed for the College of the Venerable Bede to mark its centenary as a Church of England teacher training school. It is constructed with a reinforced concrete frame filled with solid brickwork and rendered exterior, with a Welsh slate roof, metal windows and cork flooring. The building occupies a prominent location on a sloping site above the River Wear. When the College of Hild and Bede was formed in 1979, following the Church of England's sale of the college to the University of Durham, the chapel was retained as part of the site.

The plan is rectangular with a narthex to the west and an apsidal vestry attached to the south. The architectural style combines art deco with gothic, baroque and classical detail.

The east end is plain with lancet openings set through flanking buttresses. The west end narthex forms a tall rectangular tower of three bays. The central bay is inset with small rectangular openings piercing the parapet, a single lancet window in the organ gallery, and the main entrance below. The entrance is classical in style, featuring a Romanesque arch rising from imposts and flanked by a pair of columns with a Doric entablature. The main door comprises fifteen panes with a semi-circular fanlight above. The left bay is plain with a rectangular projecting stair turret on the ground floor providing access to the organ gallery. The right bay contains a belfry formed as a concave niche holding a figure of St Bede supported on a fluted corbel, with a bell and canopy above surmounted by a cross. The south-facing apsidal vestry is single storey and flat roofed, with a sixteen-pane tripartite window in its curved end. The north and south walls comprise alternating narrow and broad bays demarcated by paired buttresses, with the narrow bays recessed. The west wall of each broad bay is pierced by a lancet window. At a higher level, the bays are set back from the outer face. Ground floor level features a series of sixteen-pane tripartite casement windows.

The interior has simple whitewashed plaster walls with a ceiling of alternating barrel vaulted bays in sprayed asbestos and cross-vaulted bays in fibrous plaster. At approximately three metres above the floor, the walls are set back from the outer face in alternate bays, and at a higher level still they are set further back to reduce roof span. The central aisle is flanked by three rows of raised seating formed from alternating teak and walnut boards, polished and decorated with various coats of arms. Two rows at the western ends run at right angles to the aisle. The altar, also of alternating teak and walnut boards, retains its original covering, with timber cornices finished in silver leaf suspending original hangings to the rear. The Bishop's chair to the left of the altar and the sedilium to the right are both constructed of alternating walnut and teak boards, the latter with rear hangings suspended on plaster cornices. The font and lectern are part of the original chapel fittings. A Harrison and Harrison organ of 1891 with casing by Seeley & Paget occupies the organ gallery at the west end. The cork flooring and woodwork detail extend through to the vestibule and vestry with original doors and fittings.

Seeley & Paget, working between 1930 and 1960, are historically important as pioneers of twentieth-century architecture. The practice is best remembered for their art deco extension to Eltham Palace and notable churches including The Ascension of 1939 at Hanger Lane. Their particular distinction lies in their ability to work across a range of genres and to incorporate historic styles into modern buildings. This chapel exemplifies their trademark approach: a skilful amalgam of various styles within an essentially art deco building, demonstrating their use of modern materials and techniques. The plain yet dramatic interior remains intact with high-quality original fixtures and fittings.