Editing St John's College, Cambridge (section)

===Chapel===
[[File:LeKeux - Cambridge, c1840 - St John's 05, Chapel - memorialsofcambr01wriguoft 0214.jpg|thumb|Old College Chapel]]
[[File:St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|Inside St John's College Chapel]]
The Chapel of St John's College is entered by the northwest corner of First Court. It was constructed between 1866 and 1869 to replace the smaller mediaeval chapel which dated back to the 13th century. When in 1861 the college's administration decided that a new building was needed, Sir [[George Gilbert Scott]] was selected as the architect. He had recently finished work on the chapel at [[Exeter College, Oxford]], and went about constructing the chapel of St John's College along similar lines, drawing inspiration from [[Sainte-Chapelle]] in Paris.

[[File:St John's College Chapel Court, Cambridge, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|St John's College Chapel was designed by Sir [[George Gilbert Scott]]]]

The benefactor [[Henry Hoare (1807–1866)|Henry Hoare]] offered a downpayment of £3000 to finance the chapel's construction, in addition to which he promised to pay £1000 a year if a tower were added to Scott's original plans, which had included only a small [[flèche (architecture)|flèche]]. Work began, but Hoare's death from a railway accident left the college £3000 short of his expected benefaction. The tower was completed, replete with [[Louver|louvres]] but left without bells; it is based on [[Pershore Abbey]].<ref>'A History of St John's College', produced by Tim Rawle Associates, Cloister Press, p. 11</ref> The tower is {{convert|163|ft|m}} high.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New Chapel of St John's College |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1869|page=3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tZAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP11}}</ref>

The chapel's antechamber contains statues of [[Lady Margaret Beaufort]] and [[John Fisher]]. Inside the building is a stone-vaulted [[ante-chapel]], at the end of which hangs a 'Deposition of the Cross' by [[Anton Rafael Mengs]], completed around 1777. The [[misericord]]s and panelling date from 1516, and were salvaged from the old chapel. The chapel contains some 15th-century glass, but most was cast by [[Clayton and Bell]], [[Hardman & Co.|Hardman]], and [[William Wailes|Wailes]], in around 1869.<ref name="imagesofengland.org.uk"/> Freestanding statues and plaques commemorate college benefactors such as [[James Wood (mathematician)|James Wood]], Master 1815–39, as well as alumni including [[William Wilberforce]], [[Thomas Clarkson]] and [[William Gilbert (astronomer)|William Gilbert]]. The college tower can be climbed and is accessed via a small door on First Court. However, this access was closed in 2016 for the duration that important structural repairs were carried out to the tower [[Pinnacle]]s and roof.

The chapel is surrounded on three sides by large [[church tabernacle|tabernacles]] which form part of the external buttresses. Each contains a statue of a prominent college alumnus, alumna or benefactor. The people commemorated are, beginning with the buttress next to the transept on the south side:

{{flatlist|
* [[Sir William Cecil]], Lord Burghley
* Lucius, [[Viscount Falkland]]
* [[John Williams, Archbishop of York]]
* [[Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford|Thomas Wentworth]], Earl of Strafford
* [[William Gilbert (astronomer)|William Gilbert]], natural philosopher
* [[Roger Ascham]], instructor to Elizabeth I
* [[Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury|Mary Cavendish]], Countess of Shrewsbury
* [[Richard Bentley]], classicist
* [[Edward Stillingfleet]], bishop of Worcester
* [[John Overall (bishop)|John Overall]], Bishop of Coventry, Lichfield and Norwich
* [[Peter Gunning]], Bishop of Chichester and Ely
* Sarah Alston, Duchess of Somerset
* [[Thomas Clarkson]], abolitionist
* [[Brook Taylor]], natural philosopher and mathematician
* [[Thomas Linacre]], founder of the Royal College of Physicians
* ''Two plinths left vacant''
* [[Thomas Baker (antiquarian)|Thomas Baker]], historian
}}