Chapel

The Chapel at Marlborough College, built between 1883 and 1886, is a Grade II listed building designed by architects Bodley and Garner, with the suggestion that much of the work was by Garner. It replaced an earlier chapel constructed by Blore in the 1840s. The building is made of sarsen stone with Bath stone courses and features a pitched tile roof. It is an aisleless structure with one storey above a dado, consisting of an 8-bay nave and a 2-bay chancel that has a polygonal apse. The chancel is supported by low vestries that require flying buttresses to support the chevet vaulting. There are ordinary buttresses and three narrow pilasters at the corners of the apse, each topped with an angel. An open bell turret is located over the east end of the nave, topped by a fleche, and the windows feature delicate 14th-century style bar tracery.

Inside, the chapel has a pointed wooden barrel vault supported by stone transverse arches, which are corbelled from a deeply moulded wall arcade framing the windows and supported by applied half columns. The chancel arch is deeply moulded and leads to a narrow chancel, which has a delicate ribbed vault. The chancel arch is flanked by much lower entrances to the vestries. Below the dado, there is an impressive series of paintings by Spencer Stanhope, created between 1872 and 1879 for Blore's chapel, framed by delicate 15th-century style panelling. The chapel also features good benches and stalls arranged longitudinally. The Chapel, along with C House, B House, The Museum Block, The Arcade, The Bradleian Building, The North Block, the Porter's Lodge, gates and railings, and A House, form a cohesive group.