St George RAF Chapel
Biggin Hill, Greater London
The chapel is steeped in history and was built as a memorial to the aircrew who lost their lives flying from the Biggin Hill Sector in World War.
You come outside are confronted by glorious countryside dotted by grazing longhorn cattle. The church wardens often serve sherry after services.
There has been a church on this gorgeous site since at least the 1300s and the locals are not only proud of it but want to share it with couples who come to be married. The oldest part is the chancel, look halfway up the walls to the ancient, stone carved faces. Some wedding couples return to have their children christened in the late Norman font.
A Restoration era Speaker of the House of Commons, William Gregory (a prime force behind the Habeas Corpus Act 1679), added greatly to the building. He has quite a memorial plaque. The wooden screen is said to have been carved by Grinling Gibbons. Above that, if you crane your necks, you will spot a ravishing little blue stained glass window to the Virgin Mary, a little glimpse of heaven. More startling is an unusually forthright memorial plaque to a member of the Lee family, current owners of the Court, who was slain by Irish republicans.
With its ornate interiors, Prayer Book services, good organ music and an eloquent parson, How Caple church could almost be called a pocket sized abbey. This cherished but little discovered gem is the essence of rural Anglicanism, as English as a Richard Curtis film.
