The Chapel of the
Holy Spirit
in
The Church of St. Peter’s,
Cranley Gardens, S.W.

Notes Descriptive of the Chapel,
its Furniture, and its Principal
Features.

“I lift mine eyes, and all the windows blaze
With forms of Saints and Holy men who died
Here martyred and hereafter glorified;
And the great Rose upon its leaves displays
Christ’s Triumph and the Angelic Roundelays
With splendour upon splendour multiplied;

* * * * *

And then the organ sounds, and unseen choirs
Sing the old Latin hymns of Peace and Love
And benedictions of the Holy Ghost.”

Longfellow, Divina Commedia.

INTRODUCTORY.

The consecration of the new Chapel of the Holy Spirit by the Bishop of London, on Tuesday, the 25th May, 1909, marks the completion of the large scheme for the enlargement and beautifying of St. Peter’s, upon which the Church Council has been earnestly engaged for nearly three years.  The new organ has already been very fully described in the “Dedication Service” booklets of last year, and it has been suggested that some description of the chapel may be of interest to many who worship at St. Peter’s.  Those who read it must pardon the writer if from inexperience or lack of knowledge he has failed adequately or accurately to describe it, or if, in describing it, he may have been driven by the depth of his own feelings to strike too personal a note.

The chapel has been erected to form at once an integral portion of the church and a feature distinctive in itself.  Ancient precedents for such treatment are numerous, wherein a richness of material or ornament marks the chapel as a pious memorial or its erection as an act of devotion.  In this case it is attached to the north side of the chancel, and opens from the north transept by a wide and simply moulded archway in harmony with the chancel arch.  A short neck, lighted by a long lancet, connects it somewhat more richly with the chancel.

Occasion has been taken to gain light in this corner of the building, and the exigencies of lighting in a confined area have largely controlled the form of the chapel.  It consists upon the ground floor of three bays, in the upper part of two only.  The east window is thrown back from the party wall, and carried by a rich segmental arch at the end of the second bay.  The recess thus formed at the east end shelters the altar and reredos under a panelled vault into which the canopies grow.

The two loftier bays of the chapel have LIERNE and slightly domical vaults, each compartment intersected by the figure of a cross formed by the ribbing, which is brought down in an Ogee point to the wall rib.  The springers are arranged to form canopies over a series of sixteen figures—Angels, Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs and Holy Church, the Archangel Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin in the Annunciation flanking the east window.  The head of our Lord crowns the eastern vault, and in the surrounding bosses angels bear the emblems of the Passion.  The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, surrounded by angels bearing the insignia of the various learned societies with which the donors are associated, decorate the western bay.

Upon the walls the ornament is confined to the lower parts, which are richly arcaded on the north side, and occupied by Sedilia and Piscina on the south.  A bronze railing with gates separates the chapel from the transept, and access is given to the chapel from the clergy vestry by