PRIVATE CHAPEL

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On 16 April 1644, Stansted House was attacked by Parliamentary forces.  By the end of the day, the house, built in 1480 on the site of the former hunting lodge, was in ruins.  A new house was built some two hundred metres to the north-east in 1688, on the site of the present mansion, which commanded views across the coastal plain to the Solent and over parkland to the East and West.

 

The ruins of the original House successively became stock sheds, a brewery and a bailiff's house until the Chapel of St Paul was built there by the Reverend Lewis Way in 1807.  The Regency building incorporates earlier structures, and is by an unknown architect.

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The Chapel you see today has a colourful history and is Grade 1 listed. It was consecrated on 25th January 1819 (the Feast of Conversion of St Paul) by the Bishops of St David's and Gloucester. It contains a unique East window with Christian/Jewish iconography and Hebrew Tablets of the Ten commandments. John Keats attended the consecration service, along with 300 people and like many of them, is rumoured to have stood at the back. He used the Chapel's imagery in his poems The Eve of St Agnes and The Eve of St Mark.

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MONTHLY MIDDAY CHAPEL SERVICE 

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Monthly midday prayers occur on the first Wednesday of the month from January to October.

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Our Prayer meetings provide a brief pause in the day to spend time with God and is a short service consisting of a psalm, Bible reading and brief reflection, as well as prayers for the House and its community. 

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Our Chapel restoration project has been supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players we have been able to carry out restorative works to the outside and the inside of the Chapel.

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For more information please visit the Heritage Lottery Fund website. 

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Chapel opening times: Easter Sunday - End of September. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday 1pm - 4pm, subject to staff availability.

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Please check before travelling if this is a key part of your visit.