Name: The Royal Military Chapel, The Guards’ Chapel, Wellington Barracks
Denomination: Anglican
Address: Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk. SW1E 6HQ
Telephone: 020 7414 3229
Web Site: https://www.householddivision.org.uk/guards-chapel
Email: click here
Please visit the website for times of services and details of other events and check with the Chaplain’s Office prior to visiting.
The Royal Military Chapel, St. James Park, known as the Guards Chapel, is the religious home of the Household Division at the Wellington Barracks in London. Built in 1838, the chapel was bombed during the Blitz in 1940/1941.
On Sunday 18 June 1944 the chapel was hit again, this time by a V1 during the morning service. The explosion of the V1 collapsed the concrete roof onto the congregation, with 121 killed and 141 injured persons (military and civilians).
In the 1960s the chapel was rebuilt in a modern style.
History
The first service to be held in the Royal Military Chapel (The Guards Chapel) took place on 6 May 1838. The interior of the original chapel was described as not only ‘plain’ but also bare and ugly. In the 1870’s the Brigade of Guards carried out the first stages of the beautification of the chapel. George Edmund Street, a distinguished architect of the day, prepared plans for the construction of an apse to form a chancel and re-designed the interior of the chapel in the Lombardo Byzantine style; this work was completed in 1879. Thereafter as money was subscribed more and more embellishments were added as memorials and the chapel became justly famed for the beauty and richness of its decoration, every piece of which was a memorial to a member of the Brigade.
Between 1939 and 1944 the chapel was damaged several times, mostly superficially, but major damage was done in 1940 when the roof was badly burned by incendiary bombs, and again when a near miss blew out the stained glass windows. Most of the glass was recovered and eventually reconstructed. On Sunday 18 June 1944 at 11.10 am during the morning service, the chapel was hit by a flying bomb which entered the Western end and exploded. It almost completely destroyed the Chapel, only the apse being undamaged. One hundred and twenty one people, soldiers and civilians, were killed and many others injured. The six silver candlesticks and the cross still used for the normal services were in use at the time but were unmoved by the explosion, and the candles remained burning after the chapel had crashed in ruins.
Architecture
The rebuilding of the present chapel started in 1962 and the rededication took place in November 1963. It is the design of Mr Bruce George and was planned to embody the original apse, to use the War Memorial cloister, to include the stained glass recovered in 1940, and to be built on the foundation of the original building. No attempt was made to recover or reconstruct the memorials after the destruction of the chapel in 1944 and apart from the Apse and the font, all the remainder were laid under the floor, so forming a link with the past, the present and the future. The names of all whose memorials were in the old Chapel are now inscribed on stone tablets on the inside and outside of the west wall.
The integration of the original apse has been achieved by embracing it within an open portico at the east end, which covers and preserves this relic of the old building. The gold tesserea, the coloured marble and the magnificent marble mosaics continue to add their lustre to this beautiful new structure.
Doctrine and style of worship
The Guards Chapel is the spiritual home of The Household Division and services are inter-denominational but the normal Sunday services are conducted according to the rites of the Church of England. Other services, including Baptisms, Marriages, Funerals, Requiem Masses and Memorial Services, may be conducted by the appropriate Minister, according to the rite of the Church concerned. The General Officer commanding The Household Division is the patron of the Chapel, and an Officer of The Household Division participates in the reading of the Lesson and one of the seven Bands of The Household Division accompanies The Guards Chapel Choir at all Sunday Services.
Social Outreach
A broad spectrum of charities is supported by the church including SSAFA, the Army Benevolent Fund and other service charities. Macmillan Cancer Relief, Home Start, and the Children’s Trust hold their Annual Carol Services here with the special permission of the patron.