Situated within Chapel Close, just through the beloved School gate, Oakham School Chapel is the beating heart of the School with a long, captivating history.
Being built in 1924, with the foundation stone being laid on Speech Day of that year, the chapel serves as a memorial to the 70 former staff and students who died in the First World War, the names of whom are listed in the chapel entrance. Fifteen months later, Dr Cuthbert Bardsley, the Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated the Chapel.
In 1946 the names of the former staff and students who lost their lives in Second World War were carved into the stone around the internal doors and was dedicated by the Bishop of Peterborough in July of that year.
Designed by the architect G.E.S. Streatfield, the concept of his creation was to combine simplicity with dignity, which is why there are no stained-glass windows within the Chapel. That said, those with a keen eye will notice the faintest shades of green and blue within the windowpanes, which subtly transform the sunlight as one enters the building.
The School Chapel is fortunate to have an excellent three manual tracker-action pipe organ, built by the acclaimed organ builder, Peter Collins, in his local workshop in Melton Mowbray in 1992. It was dedicated by the Right Reverend William Westwood on 27 June 1993. The organ has over 2,100 individual pipes as well as ornate carvings created especially for this instrument.
Being built as a memorial, the names along with a memorial to the 83 OOs who lost their life in World War II, are located in the vestibule.
Today, Oakham School Chapel is used frequently for morning chapel, congregational practice concerts and is the beating heart of Oakham School.
