Sandham Memorial Chapel: Stanley Spencer's First World War Memorial.

Sandham Memorial Chapel.

A remarkable chapel, built as a memorial to the soldiers of the First World War.

Having joined the National Trust, it seemed rude not to visit another property. Today, we went to the nearest to where we are: Sandham Memorial Chapel. Being completely honest, not somewhere we would have gone had we not been members.

However, we did, in fact, thoroughly enjoy our visit. Neither of us had heard of Stanley Spencer before today. He was a First World War medical orderly at Beaufort Hospital in Bristol, and a soldier, sent to Salonika, Macedonia.

The Sandham Memorial Chapel, inspired by Giotto’s Arena Chapel in Padua, was built in the 1920s. It was paid for by the patrons and collectors John Louis and Mary Behrend, who later dedicated the chapel to Mary Behrend’s brother, Harry Sandham, who had died in 1920, shortly after returning from active service.Although plain and austere on the outside, the interior is covered in an amazing artistic representation of Spencer’s wartime experience. The design is exactly how it looks – a small chapel, with two small bungalows either side.

Sadly, interior photographs of the chapel are not allowed, as the National Trust do not own the copyright to the paintings. We shall therefore have to content ourselves with the exterior view. The interior, and the art collection, is well worth seeing. The exhibition is comprehensive, giving good detail to the works of art that make up the interior.

For further reading: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sandham-memorial-chapel.

Photograph Details

Taken: 19 Mar 2017
Camera: Canon 5D MkIII
Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm 1:2.8 L II USM
Focal Length 24mm
F/5.6
1/100 Sec
ISO 100

One thought on “Sandham Memorial Chapel: Stanley Spencer’s First World War Memorial.”

Bob 21/03/2017 at 08:14

The pictures were on display at Somerset House while the memorial was being refurbished.

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