Chapel Of The Epiphany

Chapel of the Epiphany

A chapel built between 1877 and 1879, designed by Richard Norman Shaw for Francis Stanier (1838–1900) of Peplow Hall. The building is constructed in red brick laid in English bond with red sandstone ashlar dressings, featuring timber-framed upper parts with red brick nogging, some laid in herringbone pattern. The gable end to the west is tile-hung, and the roof is covered in plain tiles.

The building comprises a nave and chancel in one, with a gabled north-west porch, a lean-to north vestry, and a lean-to south chapel. The architectural style is free late Perpendicular. A bellcote marks the division between the nave and chapel, consisting of a lead or copper-sheathed battered base and a timber-framed superstructure with a plain tile roof, sprocketed eaves, finial, and weathervane. The bellcote contains 2 bells.

The nave features buttresses with chamfered offsets and clasping buttresses to the west end. The timber-framed upper parts have chamfered offsets. Pairs of 2- and 3-light leaded wooden windows are set to the north and south. There are paired boarded doors to the north with strap hinges and a chamfered and stopped wooden surround. The porch consists of low brick walls with chamfered stone copings and a timber-framed superstructure. It has 3-light leaded side windows and a chamfered arched braced entrance with a collar and brackets supporting the ends of the wall plates. The west end features a continuous range of five 2-light leaded wooden windows and a smaller range of three 2-light leaded wooden windows beneath the tile-hanging in the gable above.

The chancel has a chamfered plinth, a small square-headed south window with 2 trefoiled ogee-headed lights and chamfered reveals, and an east window of 5 trefoil-headed lights with trefoils above each, continuous mullions, chamfered reveals, and hoodmould. The south chapel also has a chamfered plinth, a pair of square-headed windows with 2 trefoiled ogee-headed lights and chamfered reveals, and a central chamfered-arched boarded door with strap hinges. The north vestry was extended to the right in the 20th century and features a reset 19th-century boarded door in its right-hand return with strap hinges and a window above. The left-hand return contains a 2-light double-chamfered mullioned stone window.

A datestone in the foot of the south-west buttress of the nave records: "This corner stone of the / chapel of the Epiphany / was laid by Caroline Stanier / in the presence of the right / reverend G.A. Selwyn D Bishop / of Lichfield October 17th 1877".

The interior retains complete late 19th-century fixtures and fittings, mostly by Shaw. The nave has a ceiled wagon roof with stencilled ornament to the chancel. A double-chamfered arch opens to the south chapel, with the outer chamfer continuous and the inner resting on carved corbels. An organ arch to the south features a double chamfer dying into responds and a hoodmould. A chamfered-arched boarded vestry doorway is present, and a string course runs to the chancel beneath the cill to the east and is carried over the vestry doorway as a hoodmould. The rear arch to the east window and reveals to the south window are chamfered.

Fittings include a panelled sanctuary dated 1903 with a carved frieze and billet-ornamented top, and a central carved wooden reredos of 5 bays with a central canopied niche. The altar table is Gothic, and there are wrought-iron altar rails. Plain choir stalls are present.

An elaborate wooden screen by Shaw features a chamfered stone base, 3 wide cusped ogee-headed openings, shafts with moulded bases and capitals, panelled spandrels, coving to the loft, and tall panels in the tympanum with traceried heads.

A hexagonal wooden pulpit by Shaw stands on a chamfered stone base. It has a pair of linenfold panels to each side with billet ornament, cinquefoiled ogee-headed open panels above with carved spandrels, and a frieze with stylized carved foliage.

Other fittings include a wrought-iron lectern with a twisted shaft and tripod base, and plain pews. An octagonal stone font by Shaw stands on 2 steps with a chamfered base. The stem has filleted circular and octagonal shafts, and the bowl is carved with alternating fleur-de-lys and cruciform panels.

The chancel was redecorated in 1903 with wall paintings on the north and south walls by D. Strachon depicting the Epiphany of our Lord. Encaustic tiles are laid in the chancel. Stained glass in the chancel is dated 1913 and that in the south chapel is dated 1901. The east window is by Heaston, Butler and Bayne.

A tablet on the south wall commemorates Caroline Judith Stanier, wife of Francis Stanier, who died 29 January 1905.