johnpfThe Oratory of St Agnes is a chapel within the grounds of St Tibb's High School, and was once the place of worship for the Marringdon family who lived in the main Marringdon Hall before the estate was sold off and became an all-girls school.
The Oratory and Marringdon Hall are the only two buildings still remaining from the original 1850 purchase of the Marringdon grounds, with the Hall being used for the main school building and the Oratory left alone because of the long lineage of Marringdons interred in its crypt. (The Marringdons of Mettleham are mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.)
When St Tibb's was still a relatively small school, most of the student population would have fit in the chapel, and indeed each Sunday compulsory attendance at morning and evening service was expected of all students.
As the school grew, however, this became increasingly impractical, and these days the chapel is only used for special occasions (e.g., the Feast of St Agnes on January 21st), attended on a voluntary basis. Even then, however, it is not large enough to house the entire student population, so only a selected group of attendees are allowed for each service held there. (And St Tibb's no longer expects its students to be Church of England, but it does adhere to secular Anglican ethics and expects its girls to do so, too.)
Nowadays, the chapel is completely off-limits to students from Years 7 to 11, except for those chosen to attend special services, but it is open during most school days for sixth formers to come in and pray, meditate, or simply chill out away from the stresses of their studies.
In this picture, we see the northern half of the nave, with Gaynor O'Keith and Amelia Jobson (both of Year 13) visiting the chapel as they take a break from their studying.
(Posed and rendered in PoserPro 11, uniforms created in Marvelous Designer 9.5, postwork in PSP 2022.)
2022-07-25 12:58:31 +0000