The best of Chelsea by the people who know - Cadogan

19 | STREETS & SIGHTS |
impressive statue of Charles II, which
was regilded in 2002 for the Queen’s
Golden Jubilee.
The Chelsea Pensioners themselves
are immediately recognisable in their
scarlet uniforms, and there are tours by
Chelsea Pensioner guides (see
Museums). The RHS Chelsea Flower
Show has been held in the South
Grounds of the hospital since 1913.
There are events, such as concerts, held
at the hospital and certain rooms can be
hired for functions or weddings.
The Royal Hospital was established
under Charles II, who issued a Royal
Warrant in 1681 authorising its building
to provide for the welfare of old or disabled
soldiers. Sir Christopher Wren,
Surveyor-General of Works to Charles II,
was commissioned to design it and Sir
Stephen Fox, former Paymaster General
to the Army and Commissioner of the
Treasury, secured the funds – with some
difficulty.
Despite delays and problems with
funding, building work was finally
completed in 1692 and in February the
same year, the first in-pensioners were
admitted. The hospital includes the Long
Wards, which contains the pensioners’
living quarters, the State Apartments, the
Wren Chapel, the Great Hall and the
Octagon. The berths in the Long Wards,
where the pensioners sleep, were
extended in 1954-55 and again in 1991
to their present size of 9 x 9ft.
The Royal Hospital was funded by
deductions from army pay and got occasional
boosts from other sources in its
early days, but since 1847 it has been
supported by Government ‘grant-in-aid’,
legacies, donations and unclaimed shares
of money from the Army Prize Fund.
Today it is still supported by grant-in-aid
but major projects and non-routine maintenance
are funded by private donations.
It is home to between 300 and 350
veteran soldiers who have surrendered
their military pension to the Treasury in
return for accommodation, food, uniform
clothing and medical care.
The Great Hall, where the pensioners
eat, is an impressive space and features
a number of artworks, including a mural
painting by Antonio Verrio and Henry
Cooke of Charles II on horseback, dating
from around 1690, which was restored
in 2002.
One of the hospital’s real gems is the
Wren Chapel. It has a high ceiling, great
acoustics and a mural of the
Resurrection by Sebastiano Ricci, dating
from 1714. The first televised church
service in Britain was broadcast from the
chapel in 1949.
Chelsea pensioner tour guides
The Octagon, which links the chapel
and the Great Hall, supports the cupola
and rises to 130ft. The Royal Coat of
Arms over the north entrance originally
came from the Royal Hospital at
Kilmainham, Dublin, which closed in
1925. The striking statue of a Chelsea
Pensioner by Philip Jackson was erected
in front of the Octagon in 2000 to mark
the new millennium.
Sir John Soane added a new infirmary
building on the site of today’s National
Army Museum in 1809, but it was
demolished after being bombed in 1941,
Royal Borough of Kensingon & Chelsea, Family & Children’s Service
St Luke’s and
Christ Church
St Luke’s Church
St Luke’s on Sydney Street and Christ Church
off Flood Street are treated as the same parish.
St Luke’s, designed by James Savage, was
consecrated in 1824 and was built because
Chelsea Old Church had become too small for
the rising population. Christ Church, designed
by Edward Blore, was consecrated in 1839,
originally as a ‘chapel of ease’ for St Luke’s.
St Luke’s is regarded as one of the first
neo-Gothic churches in London.
Charles Dickens married Catherine Hogarth
at St Luke’s on April 2, 1836, two days after
the first part of The Pickwick Papers was published.
Other famous figures connected with
the church include The Water-Babies author
Charles Kingsley, whose father was the rector
of the parish from 1836-1860; John Goss,
who wrote the hymn Praise My Soul the King
of Heaven; and John Ireland, who wrote the
tune for My Song is Love Unknown. Goss and
Ireland were organists at the church.
The nave is 60ft high, thought to be the
tallest of any parish church in London, and the
tower is 142ft tall. The east window covers
more than 500 sq ft and was designed by
Hugh Easton. It features emblems of the
saints and was installed in 1959 to replace a
window destroyed in the Second World War.
Behind the altar, a painting by James
Northcote (1746-1831) shows the taking of
Christ from the cross, and two modern sculptures
by Stephen Cox either side of the high
altar depict Adam and Eve at the fall of man
in the Garden of Eden. The ten bells in the
tower were cast at Whitechapel when the
church was built and are still rung.
The organ at St Luke’s was built by John
Compton in 1932 and includes some of the
original 1824 instrument. It was the prototype
for the organs at Broadcasting House and
Downside Abbey.
The PPFA Chapel on the south side of the
church is used for prayer and is a memorial
chapel to the Punjab Frontier Force, based in
India from 1847 to 1947. There are other
memorials to locals at St Luke’s, including Lt
Col Henry Cadogan and Luke Thomas Flood.
The labyrinth of crypts under the church is
now used as offices, and the burial ground
has been a public garden since 1881 (see
Green Spaces).
Christ Church is smaller than St Luke’s and
was designed as a church for the working
class. It was funded by the Hydman family
trust and cost much less than St Luke’s, the
idea being to cater for the maximum number
of people for the minimum cost. It was
extended over the years, with adornments
added as the social make-up of the area
changed. The organ and pulpit were rescued
from churches that were being demolished.
Christ Church established a boys’ school
soon after its consecration at rented property
in Flood Street. It accepted girls from 1843,
when land was donated by Lord Cadogan
and new schools were built. Today, it is a
Church of England primary school.
Christ Church rejoined St Luke’s in 1986 to
form the Parish of Chelsea: St Luke and
Christ Church. Each church is managed
separately.
For more information, telephone 020 7351
7365 or visit www.chelseaparish.org.