Horton Chapel

The Horton Pharmacy has made quite a business out of offering inoculations, having carved a small room for the purpose out of a back corner of the shop, and we were there a week or so back now for our Covid top-ups. He was doing a steady trade.

I decided to walk back, taking in the Horton Chapel, now the Horton, Epsom's new venue for arts, heritage and events, on the way. Just about visible lower right in the snap above. Not a bad setting for a mental hospital repurposed as a housing estate.

On the way, what I took to be a heritage drain cover, but which I learn from reference 3 is not very heritage at all, the company only having started in 1955. The company is called 'Eccles (UK Foundries FE) Ltd', but I have yet to work out what the 'FE' bit is about. All the way from Walsall.

The altar half of the chapel, the north eastern end rather than the east end, as explained at reference 4. I thought from the doors that it was probably shut, but as I approached a lady volunteer gardener assured me that it was open and that the doors would spring open as I approached, which indeed they did.

I established myself with coffee and cake, this last a quite decent Victoria sponge, which would have been even more decent had they cut down or cut out the slice of icing inside. The jam would have been quite enough.

Having got used to the counter being where the altar used to be and the nave having been divided into two spaces, I find I quite liked it. You might have lost the original design, but you do have two spaces suited to present needs. Which included, on this day, a scattering of people taking coffee and so forth. Alcohol if you wanted it. A useful, five days a week resource for the surrounding estate.

On the way to the park, a pair of trees of the Leylandii persuasion, if not actual Leylandii.

One of them from the inside.

And a rather unsatisfactory something for Google Images. Its first offer is Chinese weeping cypress (Cupressus funebris), which I think from the picture in Wikipedia is probably wrong. Nothing weeping about the habit of these two. Second offer, which is more plausible, is one of the false cypresses (Chamaecyparis). Clearly have to go back for a better snap.

A clutch of proper trees, arrived more or less naturally, albeit after the ice ages, so no that long ago.

And so through the park and back home for lunch.

References

Reference 1: https://hortonpharmacy.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://thehortonepsom.org/.

Reference 3: https://ecclesproducts.com/.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/04/piano-99.html. The celebration suggested for piano No.100 got lost, having got rather lost in the Easter turmoil.