Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Rhydd Court Chapel

Charles Francis Hansom designed the chapel for the Rhydd Court estate in 1864. Norman Shaw completed work on it between 1865-66 due to Hansom's illness. It was built on the wishes of Sir Edmund A. H. Lechmere in memory of his first son who had died.


Print circa 1870 with the Chapel on the far left

The Lechmeres moved back to their ancestral home of Severns End and the estate was used as a Red Cross Hospital beginning in 1915. After the war, it was sold and housed a boys' school until 1991. It was sold again in 2004 and operates as a home for children and adults with special needs.

While much of the chapel's interior was said to have been gutted by 2007, Shaw's mosaic reredos with the Salviati mosaics still remained. The current status of the reredos, however, is unknown.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008.
Museo del vetro di Murano. Vetri artistici del primo Ottocento. Regione Del Veneto, 2006. 35.
Wikipedia
Pevsner, Niklaus and Alan Brooks. Worcestershire. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. 332.
British Towns and Villages Network
The Hanleys

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