Submarine Memorial Chapel of St Nicholas, Fort Blockhouse

The Submarine Memorial Chapel of St Nicholas, located within Fort Blockhouse, is an Anglican chapel built in 1917 to commemorate Royal Navy and Allied submariners lost at sea during the First World War. It is constructed of painted brick with stone dressings and a slate roof.

The building has a single-cell plan, extended at the north-east end with a lean-to sacristy. Oriented northeast to southwest, the chapel sits atop the North Bastion of Fort Blockhouse and is a single-storey gabled structure featuring timber bargeboards and a slate-covered roof. A single window is present on each elevation: bull’s eye windows on the gable ends, and mullion and transom windows with casements on the northwest and southeast elevations. The main entrance, at the western end of the northwest elevation, is a timber five-panelled door. Above the doorway is a timber sign bearing the inscription “HM SUBMARINES MEMORIAL CHAPEL.” A further inscription, set beneath a crown on the door’s central panel, honors Admiral Sir Claud Barrington Barry KBE CB DSO, Flag Officer Submarines 1942-1944, with the words “THIS DOOR IS DEDICATED TO THE PROUD MEMORY OF… THEY COMMITTED THEMSELVES UNTO THE SEA.” Latin crosses adorn the apex of each gable. A single-storey, flat-roofed addition with two low timber doors is attached to the southwest end, likely a store associated with the North Bastion. A single-storey lean-to, serving as a sacristy, is attached to the northeast end. It has a two-over-two paned sash window and a timber four-panelled door.

Inside, the entrance opens directly into the nave, which features a barrel-vaulted ceiling with raised and fielded timber panels separated by pilasters, and a moulded cornice. The cornice above the altar at the northeast end is painted with the words: "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE SAITH THE LORD.” Leaded stained glass is present in the windows; the bull’s eye windows depict Christ above the altar and Mary at the opposite gable end. The four casement windows depict St Nicholas (dedicated to Lt FRC Talbot and Lt EB Talbot RN of HM Submarines Thames and Snapper), St Christopher (dedicated to Lt GA Adlard RN of Submarine Unique), St Paul (dedicated to Lt-Cmdr EP Tomkinson DSO RN and the Officers and men of HM Submarine Spearfish), and St Andrew (dedicated to Lt-Cmdr JH Forbes DSO RN and the Officers and men of HM Submarine Spearfish). Two carved wooden chaplain’s boards are affixed to the southwest wall, and a display stand for a book of remembrance is built into the western end of the southeast wall. A timber door to the left of the altar provides access to a small sacristy.