Chapel of the Former Convent of St Peter

Details

TQ 05 NW WOKING MAYBURY HILL

Chapel of the former 6/90B Convent of St Peter II*

Private Chapel. 1898-1900. By J L Pearson and F L Pearson. Brick and stone roofs of clay tiles. The elevations are Early English in Character, on a plan whose inspiration is partly late Gothic and partly Early Christian. Eight bays on the north and south sides, the two nave bays being under a lower roof; the east end apsidal with a slightly smaller apse off the side of the last bay on either side; windows chiefly paired lancets, those to the choir having plate tracery, those to the apses being single lancets set within a round-arched arcade. Corbel table over choir, changing to Lombard frieze for last bay and apses. On the south side, two storey vestry-block with flat-arched windows and parapet. Gabled staircase tower and bellcote; on the north side, side chapel flanking the choir and under separate roof; apsidal east end and interesting tracery in a shallow transept. Interior of the main chapel: vestibule divided from the nave by three-bay arcade with corbelled stone gallery over; nave of two bays, the massive Early English arcade of stone carrying a timber roof with arched collars; narrow aisles to either side which continue either side of the choir. The level of the floor is raised some three feet between nave and choir. Choir of four bays, the arcade lighter in style than that of the nave and supporting ribbed stone vaults; the choir vaulting continues in the chancel for one bay and then narrows and adapts to the three apses. Choir screen and stalls late Gothic in style. Decorative floor of geometric marble in choir and chancel. Gabled bardachino in marble and alabaster designed by F L Pearson after the model of his father's in Peterborough Cathedral: Columns of red marble supporting gabled niches at each corner with a nativity carved in the tympanum of the main gable; altar of marble and alabaster, the front carved with New Testament Scenes flanking Christ in Glory in a vesica; the reredos has floral panels carved in low relief on either side of a gabled niche. Statue of the Virgin Mary on a pedestal integral to the norch chancel arch. Stained glass in the eastern most bays and east ends of either aisle and in the windows of the three apses, almost all late C19 or early C20; four-light stained glass window on south side of vestibule. The north side chapel is of four bays with barrel-vaulted roof and altar only remaining in the chancel; one stained glass window in west wall and one in north wall. Crypt chapel: five bays, vaulted, with narrow side aisles; the plan is 'lobed' at the east end, as in the main chapel above. The chancel occupies the last bay which, with the apses, is treated in a Neo-Byzantine style, to the designs of F L Pearson. Marble Columns with spreading cushion capitals, marble panels of Neo-Byzantine ornament to the walls, with mosaic decoration above in the complex vaulting and deep embrasures of the windows. Three stained glass windows in the north apse and two in the south. Decorative marble floor. Altar of marble, the front decorated with opus sectile, the reredos of gilded and beaten metal enriched with enamels and coloured stones. The chapel forms a group with the former convent of St Peter. Source: Anthony Quin-ey, John Loughborough Pearson, 1979.

Listing NGR: TQ0199058918

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

428086

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Quiney, A, John Loughborough Pearson, (1979)

End of official list entry

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