Chapel (Only) To The Hospital Of St John And St Elizabeth

Chapel to the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth

This is a hospital chapel of Grade II* significance, built 1862–3 by George Goldie for the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, founded by Sir George Bowyer for the British Association of the Knights of Malta. The building was dismantled and rebuilt in 1898 with slight modifications by Edward Goldie. It represents an interpretation of Italian Baroque, modelled after the Lorrainian church in Rome, and formed the centrepiece of the formerly symmetrical Neo-Georgian hospital completed by E. Goldie in 1901.

The chapel is constructed in Portland stone, stock brick, stone and red brick dressings, with lead roofs. It is a rectangular aisleless chapel with a cupola over the sanctuary.

The facade is a Portland stone composition with symmetrical three-bay pedimented design, articulated by two superimposed Ionic and Corinthian orders. The entrance is approached via eight diminishing stone steps leading to a square-headed doorway fitted with a pair of oak doors, each bearing a bull's eye panel. Above the doorway is a plain lunette carrying a marble tablet inscribed: "Deo Uni et Trino. In Honorem S Johanis Baptistae Et Obsequium Ord. hierosol. a fundamentis Erexit Georius Bowyer eius D. ord. eques Anno MDCCCLXIII". Flanking this are niches beneath swags between pilasters, with a shallow relief cross of the Order of Malta above. A frieze reads "ECCLESIA: S: MILIT: ORD: S: JOHAN: HIEROSOL:". The upper storey contains a central square-headed window beneath a segmental open pediment on deep brackets, set over an Imperial crown and shield. Flanking sculpted wreaths enclose crosses of the Order of Malta. A second frieze reads "SERVI: DOMINORUM: PAUPERUM: INFIRMORUM:". The composition culminates in a shallow pediment bearing a cross of the Order of Malta, surmounted by a double cross of the Holy Sepulchre set back from the gable, with a stone-dressed parapet and lead roof. To the rear, a drum carries a lead-clad dome, above which sits a small cupola with round-headed glazed openings, topped by a ball and cross of the Order of Malta.

The three-bay side elevations are constructed in stock brick with stone dressings. At ground floor level, single storey brick extensions from 1999 partly cover these elevations. The upper storey is articulated in three bays by Composite stone pilasters between alternating fabric and foliate double swags and garlands flanking inscribed stone plaques—this articulation dates to 1898. Each upper storey bay features a lunette (from 1862–3) beneath a red brick arch rising from a moulded cornice and beneath a slender stone band. The parapet is in stock brick with stone pilasters to each bay.

The interior is rectangular with slight recesses for transepts. Liturgical east and west doorways are present, the eastern doorway accessing a perimeter corridor that formerly provided access for nuns. A liturgical north doorway serves the former sacristy. An upper corridor provides east access to the choir tribune, and north and south entrances to side tribunes, formerly occupied by patients.

The high altar stands under a baldachino offset beneath the dome, lined with Corinthian pilasters in polished red Sicilian jasper, with marble plinths and bases and gilded capitals. A continuous modillion cornice runs across, ceasing at the choir tribune. The nave features a three-bay barrel-vaulted roof with coffered transverse ribs. The drum above carries pedimented windows, with alternate windows set under segmental pediments and spandrels painted with crosses of the Order.

On the south elevation, an enriched doorcase is flanked by simple white marble water stoups beneath niches. Pairs of tribunes flank the sanctuary to left and right. These are constructed in alabaster, each with three panels bearing the Bowyer crest and flanking crosses, supported on four double brackets. The left tribune is positioned over a doorway with panelled doors (probably 1898) featuring upper bull's eye panels with the cross of the Order of Malta. A similar central doorway serves the north elevation; above it sits the choir tribune on triple brackets, ornamented with the Bowyer arms and flanking crowns, with a gilded timber lattice screen. Painted panelled doors from the tribunes access the upper corridor.

The nave floor is laid in wood block (circa 1898; a 1864 floor was noted as coloured tiles laid in a fret pattern). The sanctuary floor is in white marble with a straight step to the nave (though an 1898 plan shows a shaped step, possibly never built). The Bowyer tomb and memorial tablet are located here. Collegiate nave seating is rendered in mahogany with inlay crosses of Malta, with a panelled back defined by Corinthian columns and scrolled arm rests. Corinthian screens flank each side, now hinged; front benches have been removed.

The high altar, dated 1864 and signed by Augusto Innocenti (architect) and Teodoro Augusti (sculptor), was made in Rome and presented as a gift of the Grand Master to the English Knights. It comprises a marble table with scrolled ends bearing arms. Above sits a segmental pedimented marble tabernacle with a silver beaten panel of the lamb beneath an enriched canopy. The baldachino features a flat coffered ceiling on four marble Corinthian columns, surmounted by the Bowyer arms flanked by feathers.

A left side altar, dating to the 18th century and probably Italian, originated from the old chapel at Cowdray and was the gift of Lord Petre. It is constructed in marble with an inlaid central panel, offset flanks, and a Corinthian altarpiece with a crucifix probably executed in scagliola. To the right stands another altar and tabernacle from the 18th century, formerly belonging to the Throckmorton family at Buckland, Berkshire, a gift from Cardinal Wiseman. This comprises a table and chest in marble with marble inlay slivers, and a tabernacle in ebony and tortoiseshell surmounted by a crucifix.

Among other furnishings are chandeliers given by Bowyer, ceramic stations of the cross, and a series of honours boards dedicated to the Sovereign Order of Malta. A pair of figures, probably Italian, flank the south doorway.