The Chapel
This was the chancel of the old church. It is Early English in style with a high pitched roof and graceful lancet windows dating from about 1220 and originally had stained glass by Morris and Burne-Jones dating from 1878. It was fitted with choir stalls and separated from the nave by a wooden screen and a chancel step where the back wall is now. The whole floor of the church has been raised so that the chancel step has disappeared. When the church was rebuilt, the Chapel was designed to retain an atmosphere of antiquity and tradition. In the middle window may be seen the altar cross. This is of medieval origin, when it was used as a processional cross, but now stands on a Victorian base. It was destroyed by the fire and its wooden core burnt out, but parishioners picked nearly all the pieces out of the rubble and it was put together again by a parishioner and a team of boys at Windsor Technical College.
The chapel chairs were given by parishioners in memory of their loved ones and the kneelers were made by parishioners. The altar kneeler was made by Yateley Industries for the Disabled to a design which incorporates the crossed keys and sword from the coat of arms of Winchester Diocese. The font may date from the 13th century, but the date is difficult to fix. Before 1878, it stood by the north door, but was then moved into the tower and finally moved into the Chapel during the rebuilding. Over it hangs a twelve candle chandelier which was reconstructed out of pieces salvaged from the six which used to hang in the old church, all of which were destroyed.
The work was completed by the same team of helpers from Windsor Technical College who spent several hundreds of hours going through buckets of fragments. It was then plated to give it a better uniformity and to avoid the necessity of polishing it as it is very fragile. On the north wall hangs the Royal British Legion Memorial Board, which replaces a memorial which used to be there, but was destroyed in the fire.
In the far left corner is a door which leads into the Prayer Cell. This was built in 1967 as a Clergy Vestry on the foundations of a 14th century anchorite cell. You can see the “squint” through which the anchorite could take part in the Mass without emerging from his cell. This room escaped the fire, but its door was burnt half through, and the room was full of smoke.
The black and white floor tiles in the sanctuary, underneath the altar, survived the fire, as did the slate tomb slabs which were moved into their present positions from where they were over vaults in the chancel and nave. The slab on the left is that in memory of Richard Ryves Knight, who died in 1671, the one on the right is in memory of Thomas Wyndham who died in 1763. Wyndham is a well known local name and can be found associated with many local landmarks. The tomb slabs which could not put back into the church are in the churchyard near the west entrance. The floor of the chapel is of polished limestone from France. On the wall to the left is the memorial to the Rev. C. D. Stooks, Vicar from 1885 to 1905, the only stone memorial (of which there were many) to survive.
The Church
The Porch & Lych Gate