Chapel Of The Virgin And Saint Everilda

The Chapel of the Virgin and Saint Everilda is a church constructed between 1836 and 1839 by Agostino Giorgioli, with supervision by John Hayes, for William, the 13th Lord Herries. Sculptures are by Luigi Bozzoni. Built of red brick, with stucco and a lead roof, the church comprises a single-bay narthex, a seven-bay nave with east transepts, and a single-bay apsidal sanctuary. The entrance front is tripartite, featuring a double-leaf door with ten panels and a transom window, set within a giant round-arched recess with a coffered intrados. A frieze above reads 'B. MARIAE. DEI. GEN. IMM. CON. ET. S. EVERILDAE,’ surmounted by a pediment with a moulded cornice. Flanking bays are two stages high; the first stage is rusticated, and the second stage contains a 20-pane window flanked by angels. A band with putti decorates the facade. The side elevations feature three 20-pane windows at the nave cornice level, each supported by deep scrolled brackets.

Inside, an organ gallery in the narthex is supported by slender fluted cast-iron columns and deep, foliated brackets. The nave has bay intervals marked by giant attached Corinthian columns with white marble bases, scagliola shafts, and gilded capitals. A full entablature with scagliola and gilding extends throughout. Each bay of the nave walls contains a round-headed niche with a statue of one of the twelve apostles and a rectangular relief panel illustrating an episode from Christ’s life. A coffered tunnel vault covers the nave. Giant Corinthian pilasters support a round arch, with a coffered intrados, leading to the apsidal sanctuary, which is lit by a semicircular skylight. The apse is encircled by giant attached Corinthian pilasters, between which are round-headed niches containing statues of Saint Everilda, the Virgin, Saint Joseph, and Saint John the Baptist. Panels above these niches, similar to those in the nave, depict scenes from the Passion. A painting of the Crucifixion serves as the centrepiece. A polychrome marble altar stands within the apse, accompanied by ornately carved altar rails with a central gate. A 19th-century font is made of polychrome marble, featuring a shallow dish on eight inclined legs with ormolu claws and a central pillar with an entwining bronze snake. In the narthex antechamber is a disused Romanesque font, damaged and featuring carvings of beasts, an archer, and the Tree of Life, beneath a chevron frieze. All original eight-panel doors remain, housed within architraves.