Chelsea Hospital Chapel

Return to the Middlesex Parishes C-F page, or, return to the Middlesex Church Records page.

Work on the Chapel started in 1681 and was completed in 1687. It is a rare example of Wren's pure ecclesiastical work, being carried out without site constraints. It was designed to accommodate about 500 people, all the staff and pensioners, and rises 42' high.

The wainscoting and pews (originally for staff and Horse Guards) are by Sir Charles Hopson, the leading joiner of his day and deputy Clerk of Works at the Royal Hospital from 1691 to 1698. The choir stalls are modern additions. Backs have been fitted to the benches, and the three-decker pulpit has been dismantled to make the existing pulpit and reading-desk, otherwise the original plan is maintained. The plasterwork was carried out by Henry Margetts. The carving is by William Emmett, Master Carver before Grinling Gibbons and William Morgan. The organ case is the work of Renatus Harris, but his organ has been replaced by a modern instrument.

The old registers of baptisms, marriages and burials are now held at the Public Records Office. Burial services were discontinued in 1854, and weddings which were uncommon after 1753 were banned from 1815 to 1919.

The Chapel was consecrated in August 1691¹...

The Royal Chelsea Hospital is about one mile and a half from Grosvenor Place, Hyde Park Corner, going by Sloane treet, and nearly one mile and a quarter from Buckingham Palace, by Pimlico².

1. From the Chelsea Hospital Chapel website.

2. From: A Topographical Dictionary of London by James Elmes published 1831