Sandham Memorial Chapel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sandham Memorial Chapel |
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Sandham Memorial Chapel, Burghclere.
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| General information | |
| Location | Burghclere, Hampshire, England |
| Owner | National Trust |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Lionel Godfrey Pearson |
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Listed Building – Grade I
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| Official name | Sandham Memorial Chapel |
| Designated | 18 May 1984 |
| Reference no. | 1339741 |
The Sandham Memorial Chapel is a special building located in a village called Burghclere, in Hampshire, England. It was built in the 1920s and is considered a very important historical building (Grade I listed). The chapel was designed by an architect named Lionel Godfrey Pearson.
This unique chapel was created to display a series of paintings by the famous English artist Stanley Spencer. A couple, Mary and John Louis Behrend, asked for it to be built. They wanted it to be a memorial for Mary's brother, Lieutenant Henry Willoughby Sandham. He sadly passed away from an illness he caught in Macedonia after the First World War. The chapel is surrounded by green lawns and fruit trees, with lovely views of Watership Down.
Today, the National Trust looks after the chapel. It is open for everyone to visit and learn about its history and art.
Contents
What Paintings Are Inside the Chapel?
Stanley Spencer's amazing series of seventeen paintings fills the chapel. These artworks were inspired by his own experiences during the First World War. Spencer served as a medical helper with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He worked first at a hospital in Bristol, and then on the Macedonian front. Later, he joined the infantry soldiers.
Spencer was inspired by the famous frescoes painted by Giotto in Italy. He wanted to paint similar large wall murals, but the chapel's conditions weren't right for frescoes. So, he used other painting methods. He was asked to create these paintings in 1923. Spencer moved to Burghclere in 1926 to work on them right inside the chapel. He finished the entire series in 1932.
The Main Painting: Resurrection
The most important painting is a huge Resurrection scene behind the altar. In this painting, many British soldiers are shown placing white wooden crosses, which marked their graves, at the feet of a distant Christ figure. The paintings show Spencer's everyday life during the war, not big battle scenes. When an art expert named R. H. Wilenski saw the finished paintings, he said it felt like every memory had been deeply felt by the artist.
What Is the Chapel's Name?
The chapel's official name is The Oratory of All Saints. However, most people know it by its common name, Sandham Memorial Chapel. This name became official after the National Trust took over the property.
Nicknames for the Chapel
Stanley Spencer, the artist, used to call it his "Holy-Box." The architect and the people who paid for the chapel privately called it Spencer's "God-Box." Interestingly, John and Mary Behrend's children had their own nickname for it. They jokingly called it the "biscuit factory" because they thought it looked a bit plain, like a factory building.
