Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich

The Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich has to be one of the most visually impressive places in the land, if not the world. Well might it be officially regarded as a World Heritage Site. It was here that Great Britain trained her naval captains when she had a planet to police and an empire to run. The site previously hosted Greenwich Palace, a favourite of the Tudors, and birthplace of Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I. Through its many columns and grand porticos, one may see Canary Wharf and modern London’s capitalistic acquisition of wealth.

The college has a suitably constructed and apportioned chapel, a favourite venue for concerts and performances. When one visits the Old College, one is inevitably overawed by the beauty and scale of the architecture. Many ignorant Englishmen assume that such fantastic sites can only be seen and experienced by the enjoyment of foreign holidays, while this place is on their doorstep.

Outside the chapel entrance are two texts:

‘Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast’, from Hebrews 6:19-20, and

‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’, from Matthew 5:5-9.

More glorious than the glorious structures of man are the gloriously certain promises of God.