Holy Trinity Chapel is a private chapel adjacent to

Capesthorne Hall Capesthorne Hall is a country house near the village of Siddington, Cheshire, England. The house and its private chapel were built in the early 18th century, replacing an earlier hall and chapel nearby. They were built to Neoclassical d ...

, near the village of Siddington, Cheshire, England. 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, a ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It is an Anglican church in the

diocese of Chester The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside. History Ancient diocese Before the si ...

, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Macclesfield. Its benefice is combined with those of St James and St Paul, Marton,

Christ Church, Eaton Christ Church is in Macclesfield Road, the A536 road, to the south of the village of Eaton, Cheshire East, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Congleton, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield, and the diocese of Che ...

, and All Saints, Siddington.

History

The chapel was built in 1722 to a design by John Ward in neoclassical style and restored in 1886–88 by Mrs Augusta Bromley Davenport. The restoration led to the interior becoming much more ornate.

Architecture

Exterior

The chapel is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. It consists of a

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 ...

with an

apsidal In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

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

. Around the top of the chapel is a moulded stone cornice and a balustrade. The balusters are interspersed with square piers supporting swagged ball finials.

Interior

The manorial pew is on a raised platform at the west end; it is reached by a private door from the park grounds. During the restoration the

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

s were removed, the pulpit was moved, the wall panelling was raised in height and a panelled ceiling was added. A

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

reredos was added in the apse, which was manufactured by Salviati and is loosely based on

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...

's ''Dormition''. The font dates from 1772, is made of coloured

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

and consists of a bowl resting on three legs, each with a clawed foot. The vaults contain the remains of John Ward, the builder, and members of the Bromley Davenport family.

External features

The gatepiers and gates to the chapel are listed at Grade II. The gates are of

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

and date from around 1750. They are of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

ese

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style and include statues of Saint Andrew. The square piers are from the 20th century and are built of brick on a stone

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

. On their tops are stepped stone caps with ball finials.

References

External links

Photograph of interior
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capesthorne, Holy Trinity Chapel Church of England church buildings in Cheshire Diocese of Chester Churches completed in 1888 Grade II* listed churches in Cheshire Neoclassical architecture in Cheshire Neoclassical church buildings in England