The Memorial Chapel,
Charterhouse School,
Godalming, Surrey, England.
Photo: 20 September 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Ainslie.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Chapel was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
and Consecrated in 1927, and commemorates all those Carthusians who Died in Action: 700 in World War I
and 350 in World War II.
The whole School meets here three days each week for
a short Service at 8:30 a.m., and on Sundays for Evensong, Matins, or a School Eucharist.
On Sundays, when there is an Evening Service, Catholic
Pupils may instead attend Mass in the Founder’s Chapel.
Parents are welcome at Sunday Services, but tickets are required for Remembrance Sunday and the Carol Service.
Friday Morning Chapel is reserved for Congregational
singing practice. Attendance at all Chapel Services is compulsory, except where individual exemptions
are granted on Religious Grounds.
Charterhouse School’s Web-Site can be accessed
Charterhouse School in Winter.
Illustration: CHARTERHOUSE
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.
Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian Monastery in Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, London, it educates over 800 Pupils, aged thirteen to eighteen years, and is one of the original seven English Public Schools, as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 (which derived from the Clarendon Commission of 1864).
The seven original English Public Schools, as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868, are:
Eton College;
Harrow School;
Winchester College;
Rugby School;
Shrewsbury School;
Westminster School;
Charterhouse.
Today, Pupils at Charterhouse School are still referred to as Carthusians, and Ex-Pupils as Old Carthusians.
Charging Full Boarders up to £36,000 per annum in 2015, Charterhouse is predominantly a Boarding School and is among the most expensive Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) Schools in the United Kingdom.
It has educated one British Prime Minister and has a long list of notable alumni.
A Postcard, dated 15 August 1911, displaying the Arms of all the Major Public Schools in England. From top to bottom (Left to Right): Tonbridge; Charterhouse; Winchester; Bedford; Haileybury; Uppingham; Saint Pauls (Manchester) Grammar School; Merchant Taylor; Eton; Malvern; King Edward VI (Birmingham); Repton; Clifton; Harrow; Saint Edwards; Shrewsbury; Radley; Cheltenham; Malborough; Dulwich; Wellington; Rossall; Rugby.
Photo: 30 July 2014.
Source: Own work.
Author: Disclosure07.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Charterhouse School’s Memorial Chapel, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and Consecrated in 1927, commemorates all those Carthusians who Died in Action: 700 in World War I and 350 in World War II.
The whole School meets here three days each week for a short Service at 8:30 a.m., and on Sundays for Evensong, Matins, or a School Eucharist.
On Sundays, when there is an Evening Service, Catholic Pupils may instead attend Mass in The Founder's Chapel. Parents are welcome at Sunday Services, but tickets are required for Remembrance Sunday and The Carol Service.
Friday Morning Chapel is reserved for Congregational singing practice. Attendance at all Chapel Services is compulsory, except where individual exemptions are granted on Religious Grounds.
Charterhouse School Coat-of-Arms.
School Motto:
“Deo Dante Dedi”
(God Having Given, I Give).
This File: 31 March 2013.
User: Theo's Little Bot.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Chapel provides a variety of Worship experience: Hymn-Singing; Psalm Chanting; the Choir performs a repertoire of Church Music; Candle-lit Carols; Eucharists in Millennium Chapel; Remembrance Sunday with the Sounding of The Last Post and The Silence.
Each year, there is a Confirmation Service in late-January and Pupils from any year group, except the Fourths (who hadn’t been at the School when it was open to sign up), can be prepared for this.
The School retains the Old Chapel used by the School prior to 1927. However, when the School first moved to Godalming, Surrey, even this was not built, and the pupils walked the two miles to Shackleford Church, Surrey.
Pupils ever since have benefitted, because the time taken for the walk ruled out the continuance of Sunday School, which ran from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Sundays, which has remained a non-teaching day ever since.
What a strikingly beautiful, classic 1920’s era “verticalist” architecture design for the Charterhouse Chapel, with floor-to-ceiling “slit” windows on each side being the only illumination, space approximately every 30’ or so.
ReplyDeleteInterior photos on the internet show a monastic-style pew arrangement with each side facing the other across the nave, which must be very impressive for antiphonal vesper recitation. Also, the daylight ftom those windows, moving from
morning to evening, featuring across the sanctuary and chapel walls and floors proper, must be mesmerizing.
The pipe organ is also placed left-and-right sides above the pews toward the front near the sanctuary. The design of the case was very beautiful, dark wood perhaps oak paneling (it is in the process of being rebuilt according to an announcement: “The Charterhouse School Chapel in Godalming is replacing its historic 1927 Harrison & Harrison organ with a new three-manual, 53-stop instrument designed by Nicholson & Co, scheduled for completion around the 2027.”)
The Harrison & Harrison instrument was likely a 1920’s-era electro pneumatic action (as opposed to baroque tracker- or ventil-chest & Barker lever Cavaille-Coll design mechanics, the former in which the leather pneumatics usually rot and fail after a few decades: none of those types of pneumatic mechanical actions have held up for as long as the old organ did in this case.
Hopefully Nicholson & Co will save and re-use the usually exquisite 1920’s H&H-era pipework, with its smooth tones, elegant shimmering strings, and growling English-style reeds.
Thank you, Zephyrinus, for another beautiful gem, an English school sanctuary “visit.” -Comment by Dante P
We are extremely fortunate to have received this in-depth analysis from our Liturgical Architectural and Organ Correspondent, Dante P, for which we are deeply grateful.
DeleteIt is very seldom that our Readers receive such exquisite information.
Zephyrinus is delighted that this Article has proved so popular with Readers.
Zephyrinus will now enquire from an Organ-playing friend whether he, too, has the privilege of
“ . . . shimmering strings, and growling English-style reeds”.