Wolford Chapel

ST 10 NW 5/36

DUNKESWELL WOOLFORD Wolford Chapel

22.2.55

II Chapel belonging to Canada. 1800, built by Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe, restored circa 1966. Local stone rubble with limestone ashlar detail; slate roof.

Plan: small chapel is rectangular in plan with the entrance in the west end.

Exterior: both long sides (north and south) have two window fronts of square-headed single light windows containing Decorated tracery. In the west end the doorway is a two-centred arch with hoodmould and directly above is a quatrefoil oculus. There is a chamfered plinth around the building and below it, on the east, west and south sides, are a series of arch-headed niches, most of which contain slate plaques in memory of various members of the Simcoe family. The roof is gable-ended with shaped barge boards.

Interior: the roof structure is hidden by a plaster segmental vault. The walls are plastered and the floor is laid with C19 tiles. Carved oak reredos in Gothic style and including painted panels of the Lords Prayer and Commandments. Beerstone ashlar altar in Gothic style. Oak altar rail on cast iron standards. The oak reading desk the pews and wainscotting incorporate a great deal of C17 carved pieces including linenfold panels, chip-carved lunettes flowers and the like. The font is Beerstone and Gothic in style. There are some probably C18 lozenge-shaped boards on the walls painted with armorial bearings. A plaque also records that in 1966 the deeds of the chapel were handed to the Prime Minister of Ontario by Sir Geoffrey Harmsworth whose family previously owned restored and maintained the chapel.

It is the burial place of Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806) who was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, now Ontario, and was the founder of the city of York, now Toronto. The chapel is apparently built on the site of Old Wulphere Church.

Listing NGR: ST1371505240