Capernwray Chapel is in the village of Capernwray, Over Kellet,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. Formerly the chapel to

Capernwray Hall Capernwray Hall is a former country house situated 3 miles east-northeast of Carnforth, Lancashire, England, and is currently used as a Christian Bible school and holiday centre. The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as ...

, it is now an independent

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

chapel. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The chapel was built by Mr and Mrs George Marton between 1835 and 1840 as a private chapel for Capernwray Hall. George Marton was

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ov ...

of Lancashire and in addition to Capernwray Hall, owned

Borwick Hall Borwick Hall is a 16th-century manor house at Borwick, Lancashire, England. It is a Grade I listed building and is now used as a residential outdoor education and conference centre by Lancashire County Council. History The manor of Borwick is m ...

, Borwick railway station, and a number of farms. It was designed by the

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

architect

Edmund Sharpe Edmund Sharpe (31 October 1809 – 8 May 1877) was an English architect, architectural historian, railway engineer and sanitary reformer. Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, he was educated first by his parents and then at schools locally and in ...

and at that stage consisted of a simple rectangle. The chapel could seat 100 people, and the gallery formed the family pew. In 1856 E. G. Paley, Sharpe's successor, added the tower,

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and west window. During the Second World War, the boarders from Ripley St Thomas School, Lancaster, were evacuated to Capernwray Hall and used the chapel for worship. After the war, in 1946, Major W. Ian Thomas and his wife bought the hall and the chapel for the use of Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers. By 1962 it had become too small for the numbers using it and it was converted into a

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm), also known as a hall of residence, a residence hall (often abbreviated to halls), or a hostel, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential qu ...

by adding a false ceiling and

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

windows to make an upper floor. Having been disused for a time, the Evangelical Fellowship were given the use of the chapel by Mrs Thomas.

Architecture

Capernwray Chapel is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

with

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roofs. Its plan consists of a four-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, a two-bay chancel at a lower level and a southwest tower over the porch. The windows on the north and south walls are all lancets, at the east end is a three-light lancet window and at the west end is a five-light window. There is a doorway in the north chancel wall. The tower has five stages with clasping

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es. In the lowest stage is a west doorway above which is a lancet window. The bell openings consist of louvred three-light lancets. At the top of the tower is a pyramidal roof with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

Gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s protrude from the gutters and on the gables are cross

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

References

{{City of Lancaster buildings Grade II listed churches in Lancashire Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire Churches completed in 1840 19th-century church buildings in England Churches completed in 1857 Edmund Sharpe buildings E. G. Paley buildings Churches in the City of Lancaster

History

Architecture

See also

References