Original Chantry Chapel stonework to get a new home

The original façade of the medieval chapel on Chantry Bridge, was dismantled in the 1840s after 500 years of weathering and pollution.

Sir Gilbert Scott installed a new façade and the medieval stonework of the original was bought by George Norton of Kettlethorpe Hall in 1847, and used to mkae a boathouse.

When the hall was sold, the stone became the repsonsibility of Wakefield Council and it suffered at the hands of vandals, to the extent that English Heritage granted scheduled monument consent in 1996, for controlled dismantling. The stonework has since been stored at a council depot.

But recently English Heritage has been working with the council to find a permanent new home for the remains, funded by the George Hyde Legacy. Consultants have produced a condition survey and a detailed catalogue of the stones which will be used to piece them together.

Public meetings will be held on Monday, March 10, at 9.30am in Committee Room B at County Hall, and Thursday, March 27, at 6pm at the Sandal Castle Visitors Centre, so the council can show visitors where and how it proposes to re-site the stones.

Coun David Dagger, Wakefield Council’s cabinet member for culture, said: “I am delighted that working with English Heritage and the money left towards the project by Mr George Hyde we have come up with a suitable option for the remaining stones. If all goes well we hope to complete the project and see the stones redisplayed in the summer.”