There are many remarkable things about this chapel, one is how much larger the interior is when compared to the view from outside, another is the unexpected colour and decoration to be found within.
It is the only survivor of a much larger institution and carries the name of the medieval landowner. In the thirteenth century this riverside property was owned by Simon de Montfort, the 6th Earl of Leicester, who created an estate to the west of Somerset House and built a palace there. He supported and then fought against the king, and for a time he ran an early form of Parliament. De Montfort died at the Battle of Evesham on the 4th of August, 1265, when he led a small army of rebellious barons against Edward, the son of King Henry III. His land eventually became part of the Duchy of Lancaster, which is still in existence today and continues to be a landowner with assets held in trust for the monarch.
The name ‘Savoy’ refers to Peter of Savoy. Interestingly, he owned the estate for only a relatively short period of time in the thirteenth century, yet the use of his name has continued for many centuries and today can be found not just in the name of the chapel, but in many of the surrounding streets, the hotel and the theatre. The chapel was built in the early sixteenth century when Henry VII founded the Hospital of Henry late King of England of the Savoy.
The Savoy Palace had been attacked during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 when the rebellion, angered by the actions of then owner, John of Gaunt, destroyed all the contents of the palace and set fire to the building, and it remained semi-derelict until the founding of the hospital by Henry VII.
According to Henry Chamberlain in A New and Complete History and Survey of London and Westminster (1770), the hospital was ‘controlled by a Master and four brethren, who were to be in priests orders, and officiate in their turns, and they were to stand alternatively at the gate of the Savoy, and if they saw any person who was an object of charity, they were obliged to take him in and feed him. If he proved to be a traveller he was entertained for one night, and a letter of recommendation, with so much money given to him as would defray his expenses to the next hospital.’
The chapel was part of an elaborate hospital complex with the main dormitory being described as larger than Westminster Hall. Although the hospital was dissolved in the Reformation, many of the buildings survived until to the early nineteenth century when there was pressure to redevelop the area and major construction projects such as Waterloo Bridge required land for the approach road to the bridge which was built over the eastern edge of the Savoy estate.
Throughout all this time, the chapel of the Savoy has survived. Inside, the core of the walls is Tudor, from the time of the chapel’s original construction, but everything else was destroyed in a fire as this newspaper report of 15th of July 1864 describes.
‘On Thursday afternoon, one of the most ancient structures in London, the Savoy Chapel, was destroyed by fire. When first it was seen it would appear that only the organ was burning; but in a few minutes the whole interior woodwork, open seats, pulpit, &c were in flames. The fire presently burst out of the stained glass window at the northern end, and caught the veranda of the house in front of it, 109 Strand, a tailor’s shop. The upper part of the house, occupied by the Press newspaper, was also on fire for a short time, but the flames were got under control by the timely arrival of the steam engine.‘
This fire was the last of several and a 1911 report states ‘Owing to three fires between 1842 and 1864, very little of the old interior is left’. Almost everything you see today is restoration following the form of the original.
As a consequence of ownership by the Duchy of Lancaster, it exists as a private royal chapel for the monarch not as a parish church. Until recently this was the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy but, with the coronation of Charles III, it became the King’s Chapel.
This is a fascinating place to visit, just a short detour from the Strand to see a unique chapel that bears the name of the owner of a long lost estate from the thirteenth century and was part of a hospital founded by Henry VII.
There is a cleaner working on the pews with their bucket in the aisle. In a bit of historical symmetry, the print above from 1808 shows a much plainer interior, but with two cleaners working on the flag stones which then paved the floor.
