The Guy's Chapel, Guy's Hospital, London
visited June 2018
The Grade II* listed Guy's Chapel is one of the oldest parts of Guy's Hospital, near London Bridge station on the South Bank of the Thames. It was finished in 1780 and features later Victorian stained glass windows and mosaic murals.
The chapel is in the centre block of the west wing of the original Guy's hospital, and is open to anyone to drop in whether staff, patients or members of the public. There was no-one else there when I visited one Saturday as part of a group. There is a large monument to the hospital's founder Thomas Guy inside the main door of the chapel, which has been there since the chapel was built. The chapel also contains memorials to hospital benefactors and members of staff, in particular in the entrance vestibule.
Closed to the public is the crypt beneath the chapel, which contains the stone coffins of Thomas Guy and other important figures interred here. A quiet, eerie place where one almost feels like they are trespassing on the dead, I was able to visit on a guided tour of Southwark's lost burial grounds organised by Southwark Cathedral. When such things are possible again, I highly recommend the tour.
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