Mary Harris Memorial Chapel, University Of Exeter

The Mary Harris Memorial Chapel, part of the University of Exeter, was consecrated in 1958. It was designed and funded by E Vincent Harris as a memorial to his mother. The chapel is constructed of brick with stone dressings, topped with a hipped slate roof featuring stone finials at the ridge ends and secondary hips to the bay windows. The building follows a rectangular plan with polygonal apsidal ends.

The south front is symmetrical, centred around a round-arched doorway with a plank door, and a walled area in front. Above the doorway is a large cross. Flanking the central doorway are full-height bay windows, constructed with stone mullions, transoms, and leaded lights, with lead downpipes. To the west is a projecting brick entrance vestibule with a round-arched doorway having moulded stone surrounds and double plank doors. A single stone lancet window is set into the south gable end wall. To the east a projecting brick vestry features a three-light stone mullioned window, and a round arched brick doorway with a plank door in its west wall.

The interior is simple in design. A west vestibule contains an open-tread spiral staircase leading to the organ loft, along with memorial boards for the First and Second World Wars on the west wall. A plain doorway leads into the chapel itself. An organ loft occupies the west end above the vestibule, with a wooden panelled balustrade and a contemporary organ. There is a doorway to the vestry in the south-east corner of the chapel. A large cross is positioned on the east wall. The ceiling displays abstract vault patterns designed by W.T. Monnington in 1956. Contemporary panelled pewing and metal and glass altar candle holders are also present. A plaque on the south wall acknowledges the design and execution of the ceiling by Walter Thomas Monnington in 1956, including a Latin inscription. A tablet on the north wall commemorates the chapel as a gift from E. Vincent Harris and his wife Edith, in memory of his mother, and details its consecration by the Bishop of Exeter in 1958. The floor is tiled with concrete flags.