Chapel and Services

The Purpose of the Chapel .The primary focuses of Chapel are as a space for worship and as a space for quiet and meditation. The Chapel is also a centre for information about Christian events, opportunities of service, charities, denominational meetings, etc. The noticeboards are under the control of the Dean of Chapel and the Chapel Secretary and should not be used to advertise events such as concerts, unless they are specifically associated with Queens’.

Services. Regular services in Chapel in term time are advertised in the Chapel Card. The Chapel is also used for occasional services such as weddings and blessings, funerals and memorial services, baptisms, evensongs by visiting choirs, etc. Queens’ Chapel is a consecrated Church of England church, but it is appropriate to allow other denominations or Christian organisations to use the Chapel for meetings or services by agreement with the Dean of Chapel (for instance, Roman Catholic and Lutheran wedding ceremonies have been permitted in Chapel and the Fisher House representative often organises a ‘College Mass’ in Chapel for Roman Catholic students). The College Christian Union can use the Chapel when they wish (at present their Friday morning prayers are sometimes held in Chapel and they have often used the space for their regular midweek evening meetings when the Armitage Room is unavailable in the Easter Term).

The Chapel Building was designed by the architect George Frederick Bodley and consecrated in 1891. All the fixtures and fittings, including the organ (built by Binns of Leeds in 1892) date from this time. The Chapel replaced the Old Chapel, consecrated in 1451, which was part of the original fabric of Old Court. The medieval Chapel still stands, of course, and was converted after the Second World War into the War Memorial Library. The only significant changes to the appearance of the Chapel since 1891 have been the addition of a stained glass window at the West end of the South side in the 1920s, the addition of the War Memorial after the First World War (significantly expanded, of course, after the Second World War) and the corresponding wood panelling on the opposite wall, the addition of statues of St Margaret of Antioch and St Bernard of Clairvaux (the patron saints of the College) on the East wall on either side of the East window in the 1930s and the moving of the Lord’s Table away from the East wall in the 1990s.
The stained glass windows on the North side of Chapel and the great East window are some of the best in Cambridge designed by Charles Eamer Kempe, one of the most important Victorian stained glass window makers.

Booking the Chapel. If you want to book the Chapel for a concert, service or other event, please consult the ‘Using the Chapel’ link, then contact the Dean of Chapel (chaplain@queens.cam.ac.uk) in the first instance.