Memorial Chapel, The Leys School
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The Memorial Chapel of The Leys is situated on the grounds of
The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational private school in Cambridge, England. It is a boarding and day school for about 565 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen. The head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. ...
,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, England. It was built as a memorial to the first headmaster of The Leys, William Fiddian Moulton. Plans for the chapel, designed by architect Robert Curwen, were first presented to the school's second headmaster, W. T. A. Barber; he deemed the project an unnecessary luxury. School services continued to be held instead in the school hall, until 1904 when the school governors approved the chapel's construction. The cost, including all furnishings, was estimated in 1925 to have been £39,000. The foundation stone was laid at the marble West Door by
Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont (Helen Frederica Augusta; 17 February 1861 – 1 September 1922), later Duchess of Albany, was a member of the British royal family by marriage. She was the fifth daughter and child of George Victor, Princ ...
on 8 June 1905 and the chapel was consecrated on 27 October 1906. The building's design is
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
, to complement the surrounding buildings. All visible woodwork is in
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
. The roof comprises elaborately worked trestles and
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 th ...
, somewhat after the lines of the famous roof of
Westminster Hall Westminster Hall is a medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was erected in 1097 for William II (William Rufus), at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. The building has had various functio ...
. The floor is of alternating black and white marble. The chapel was designed to seat 350 boys, with the west balcony reserved for household staff.


Memorials

In 1914, 927 Leysians joined the
armed services A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
and 146 of them died in the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. A memorial to the old Leysians who died, costing £48,000 and funded by donation, was on 6 June 1920 unveiled by the Duke of York, later
King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...
. The memorial consists of four rows of names divided in the middle by a statue of an armoured
St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...
, below which is written "To The Immortal Memory of Old Leysians Who Fell In The War Of 1914–1919", and in large block capitals the words "My Marks And Scars With Me To Be A Witness For Me That I Have Fought His Battles Who Now Will Be My Reward."


Stained glass

The chapel has fourteen windows; the Governors commissioned H. J. Salisbury to decorate them all according to a unified theme. The work was modelled on the windows of the
King's College Chapel, Cambridge King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bu ...
{{Clarify, date=December 2008. Because The Leys is a Methodist school, the work was required to be simple and avoid complex symbolism. All but one of the windows depicts passages from the New Testament concerning the story of
Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...
; the large window over the main entrance instead shows ten Old Testament subjects forecasting the coming of the
Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
.


Pulpit

The pulpit is made of oak and has a brass inscription reading "To the Glory of God and for the Preaching of His holy word this Pulpit was carved by Anne Hobson, Helen Mary Chubb, and George Hayter Chubb, and presented by the latter to The Leys, October, 1906."


Benches

There are thirty-two oak benches in the chapel, thirty with square ends and two with sloping ends.


Further reading

* Sir George Hayter Chubb, ''The Memorial Chapel Of The Leys School Cambridge'', Herbert Jenkins, 1925. Churches completed in 1906 20th-century church buildings in England 1906 establishments in England Churches in Cambridge Chapels in England University and college chapels in the United Kingdom