St. Edward’s School Chapel

Although there are a number of school links within my project, St. Edward’s School Chapel is one of just two school chapels to feature.  New College School; Magdalen College School and Christchurch Cathedral School are all choir schools, linked directly to the Oxford Colleges with whom they share their name.

The Chapel at St. Edward’s School was completed in 1878 and houses an assortment of stained glass, mostly depicting religious scenes.

Teddies, as it is more colloquially known, has a wealth of famous alumni and author Kenneth Grahame was an outstanding pupil there.  In 1936, four years after his death, his time at Teddies was remembered in an impressive stained-glass window by English designer Christopher Rahere Webb (1886-1966).  The window depicts one of stories from Dream Days, a collection of Grahame’s children’s fiction: Its Walls were as of Jasper.   Published in 1902, the book was illustrated by American painter Maxfield Parrish, from where Webb gained much inspiration.

Maxfield Parrish (1902) – Its Walls were as of Jasper

In a summer of mostly clear blue skies, I was fortunate to gain access to the chapel on one of the few overcast days.  The window was at head height, resulting in images that demonstrated no converging verticals.  The batch of photographs for this window were shot at f/8.0, using the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, at 312mm.

Although the window features just two support bars, their integration is such that I opted not to attempt to remove them – indeed, had I done so, I would have had to replace them with identically placed (but thinner) calmes in order to maintain the grid design.   Consequently, the window appears below, essentially, as it is viewed within the side chapel.

Kenneth Grahame window (Christopher Webb, 1936) St. Edward’s School Chapel