Eaton Chapel North Of Eaton Hall

SJ 4160 EATON C.P. EATON PARK

9/64 Eaton Chapel north of Eaton Hall

I

Private Chapel, 1873-84, by Alfred Waterhouse for 1st Duke of Westminster. Buff sandstone with grey slate roof. Lofty 5 bay nave and continuing 3 bay apsed chancel. Early French 6-stage tower with corbelled clock-chamber surmounted by a short gabled and pinnacled spire, linked to the chapel by a 2 storey wing with a bridge above. Octagonal stair turret with spire at ritual north-west corner of nave. Geometrical bar tracery to chapel windows; tall recessed paired lancet bell openings in tower. Interior, of buff and pink banded stone, is rib vaulted with gilt bosses. Slender shafting accentuates the height of nave and chancel. A low timber-vaulted narthex across the ritual west bay carries a gallery. The blank north arcade contains mosaics by Frederick Shields, 1884. Stained glass of biblical scenes and characters by Shields was commissioned 1886 and made by Heaton Butler & Bayne. Recumbant effigy of Constance, Duchess (died 1884) by Boehm. Marble steps and floor to chancel, marble altar and pulpit, brass altar rail and bronze chandelier, all ornate. Patterned polychrome nave floor and carved oak pews. In Waterhouse's great design for Eaton Hall, the Chapel was the fulcrum between the Hall (demolished) and the stable wing: the exterior is finely composed and the richly designed and furnished interior is complete. cf. St James the Less, Lillington Gardens, Westminster by G E Street 1860's and St Elisabeth, Reddish, Stockport 1882-3 by Waterhouse. See Pevsner & Hubbard.

Listing NGR: SJ4138560776