Ripley School Chapel facts for kids

Ripley School Chapel is a special building in Lancaster, England. It's part of the Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy. This chapel is very important because of its beautiful design. It's even listed as a Grade II* building, which means it's a historic place that needs to be protected.

A Look Back: The Chapel's Story

Why Was the School Built?

The Ripley School Chapel is part of a school that started a long time ago. It was first built as a special home and school for children. This place was called the Ripley Hospital. It was especially for kids whose fathers had been lost at sea.

Who Paid for It?

A rich merchant named Thomas Ripley wanted to help these children. When he passed away in 1852, he left money to build this school. He wanted it to be like the Bluecoat School in Liverpool.

Building the School and Chapel

Thomas Ripley's wife, Julia, helped make his dream come true. The first stone for the school was placed on July 14, 1856. The school opened its doors eight years later, on November 3, 1864. A bishop from Manchester, James Prince Lee, officially opened it.

Julia Ripley passed away in 1881. She had set up a special fund to add more buildings to the school. One of these new buildings was the chapel. Local architects, Paley and Austin, designed the chapel between 1884 and 1885. It was built from 1886 to 1888. The chapel was officially opened and dedicated by the Bishop of Liverpool on November 3, 1888.

Chapel Design: Inside and Out

Outside the Chapel

The chapel stands to the east of the main school buildings. You can reach it by walking through a covered walkway with arches. The chapel is made from sandstone. The outside stone is shaped into many-sided blocks, matching the other school buildings. The roof is made of Westmorland slate.

The chapel is built in the Gothic Revival style. This means it looks like old churches from the Gothic period. It has a long main hall called a nave and a special area for the altar called a chancel. These two parts are under one continuous roof. There's also a south aisle (a side passage) and a north vestry (a room for clergy) with an organ chamber.

Special Features on the Outside

Where the nave and chancel meet, there's a tall, thin spire called a flèche. This spire has an open wooden section with a balcony and holds a single bell. A weathervane sits at the very top. On the north side, there's a projecting stair turret. This turret has a flat top and a decorated wall around it. The patterns in the windows are a mix of two old English Gothic styles.

Inside the Chapel

The chapel is quite large, like a regular church. It can seat about 400 people. At the west end, there's an entrance area called a narthex. A wooden screen separates this area from the main part of the chapel. The inside of the chapel is not perfectly even. It has a three-arch walkway on the south side between the nave and the aisle.

Interior Details

The furniture inside the chapel was designed by C. Blades and carved by John Jackson. The choir stalls, where the choir sits, are very fancy. They have detailed carved tops. The seats even have decorations that look like lollipops! The pulpit, where sermons are given, is made of oak and stands on a stone base. All the pews, or benches for seating, are also made of oak.

The large windows at the east and west ends have beautiful stained glass artwork by Shrigley and Hunt. In the entrance area, you can see white marble busts (sculptures of heads and shoulders) of Thomas and Julia Ripley. There are also special metal plaques to remember them. The large pipe organ was built in 1888 by Wilkinson and Sons. It was updated in 1988 by Corkhill.

See also

• Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
• Listed buildings in Lancaster, Lancashire
• List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin