Ripley School Chapel is part of what is now the

Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy is a mixed Church of England high school operating under academy status, in the city of Lancaster in the north west of England. The school has over 1700 pupils between 11 and 18 years old, 350 of who ...

, located in Ashton Road,

Lancaster, Lancashire Lancaster (, ) is a city and the county town of Lancashire, England, standing on the River Lune. Its population of 52,234 compares with one of 138,375 in the wider City of Lancaster local government district. The House of Lancaster was a branch ...

, England. It is considered to be of architectural importance and 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 ...

History

The school was originally built as a charitable orphanage and school, known as the Ripley Hospital, and was intended particularly for children whose fathers had been lost at sea. It was paid for from the legacy of Thomas Ripley, a merchant who died in 1852, to build such a school along the lines of the

Bluecoat School A bluecoat school is a type of charity school in England, the first of which was founded in the 16th century. Most of them have closed; some remain open as schools, often on different sites, and some of the original buildings have been adapted ...

in Liverpool. The building was commissioned by Ripley's widow, Julia. The foundation stone was laid on 14 July 1856, and the building was completed eight years later, being opened on 3 November 1864 by the Rt Revd

James Prince Lee James Prince Lee (28 July 1804 – 24 December 1869) was an English clergyman and schoolmaster who became head master of King Edward's School, Birmingham, and was later the first Bishop of Manchester. Early life Born in London, Lee was educa ...

Bishop of Manchester The Bishop of Manchester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bishop is David Walker w ...

. Julia Ripley died in 1881, having set up a trust to pay for extensions to the school, which included a chapel. The chapel was designed by the local architects

Paley and Austin Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under vario ...

in 1884–85, and built in 1886–88. It was opened and dedicated by the

Bishop of Liverpool The Bishop of Liverpool is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . The diocese stretches from Southport in the n ...

on 3 November 1888.

Architecture

Exterior

The chapel stands to the east of the school buildings, and is approached by an arcaded walkway. It is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

. On the exterior this is formed into polygonal blocks to match the other school buildings. The stone on the exterior is said to be local, while that on the interior is said to be from

Storeton Storeton is a small village on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is situated to the west of the town of Bebington and is made up of Great Storeton and Little Storeton, which is classified as a hamlet. At the 2001 Census the population of Storeto ...

, (then in Cheshire). The chapel is roofed with

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

slate, and is in Gothic Revival style. Its plan 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 ...

and

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 ...

under a continuous roof, a south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

, a north

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

and organ chamber at the east end acting as a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

, and a northwest porch. At the junction of the nave and the chancel is an octagonal

flèche Flèche or Fleche may refer to: *Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire *Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition *Flèche (fencing) The flèche is an aggressive offensive fencing technique used with foil and épée. Background ...

. This has an open timber bell stage with a balcony, and contains a single bell; it is surmounted by a

weathervane 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 ...

. On the north side of the church, between the nave and the chancel, is a projecting stair turret. This has a flat top, and a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

decorated with chequerwork. The

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

in the windows is in a fusion of Decorated and

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

styles.

Interior

The chapel is the size of a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, seating 400 people. At the west end is a

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

, divided from the body of the church by an oak screen. The interior is asymmetrical, with a three- bay south arcade between the nave and the aisle. In the transept, the vestry is at the lower level, with the organ above. The furnishings were designed by C. Blades, and carved by John Jackson. The choir stalls are particularly elaborate, with traceried canopies, and the seats have finials in the shape of lollipops. The oak pulpit stands on a sandstone base, and the pews are also in oak. The east and west windows contain stained glass by

Shrigley and Hunt Shrigley and Hunt was an English firm which produced stained-glass windows and art tiles. History The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire. In 1868, control of Shrigley' ...

. In the narthex are white

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 ...

busts of Thomas and Julia Ripley, and

brasses A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pavem ...

to their memory. The three- manual pipe organ was built in 1888 by Wilkinson and Sons of Kendal, and was overhauled in 1988 by Corkhill of

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of ...

References

Notes Citations Sources * * {{City of Lancaster buildings Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire Churches in Lancaster, Lancashire Paley and Austin buildings Chapels in England Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire University and college chapels in the United Kingdom Church of England chapels

History

Architecture

Exterior

Interior

See also

References