John Bunting War Memorial Chapel, Scotch Corner: The painstaking transformation of rubble to War Memorial

Annunciata Elwes celebrates the effort that turned a derelict house into a memorial.

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The Chapel built by sculptor John Bunting at Scotch Corner, located on the Bronze Age Hambleton Street and medieval drovers route, North York.
The Chapel built by sculptor John Bunting at Scotch Corner, located on the Bronze Age Hambleton Street and medieval drovers route, North York.
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

In 1956, sculptor John Bunting, who counted Henry Moore and Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson among his influences, purchased a derelict farmhouse on a hillside above Oldstead, site of the 1322 Battle of Byland, with a view of York Minster.

What followed was a painstaking transformation from rubble to War Memorial Chapel, which he adorned with Yorkstone carvings of angels, the Madonna and Child, a dove bearing an olive branch and a soldier in paratrooper’s helmet and commando boots holding a rosary.

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Next, Bunting carved a wooden crucifix, made inscriptions to fellow old Amplefordian Hugh Dormer (killed 1944), poet Michael Fenwick (1941) and Michael Allmand (1944), and designed three stained-glass windows.

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This remarkable chapel is open on certain days — the website at www.johnbunting.co.uk has details.

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Annunciata Elwes
Annunciata Elwes

Annunciata is director of contemporary art gallery TIN MAN ART and an award-winning journalist specialising in art, culture and property. Previously, she was Country Life’s News & Property Editor. Before that, she worked at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, researched for a historical biographer and co-founded a literary, art and music festival in Oxfordshire. Lancashire-born, she lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and a mischievous pug.