War Memorial and Shapard Tower
This chapel is located at the base of Shapard Tower. It is dedicated to all those Sewanee alumni who served in the wars of the twentieth century. Their names can be found inscribed on registers to the left and right of the altar. The altar was made in England from English oak. The figures of St. George and St. Andrew, the patron saints of England and Scotland respectively, represent the roots of the Anglican church.
Also in the War Memorial Chapel we find the Chancellor's cathedra. Made between 1841 and 1864 at Bishop Leonidas Polk's plantation, "Leighton," in Louisiana, this chair serves as the seat for the chancellor during his official visits to the chapel. The other bishops' chairs to either side were made in 1872.
Shapard Tower, standing 134 feet tall, is found to the south side of the chapel. It was designed after the tower at Saint Mary the Virgin, the university church of Oxford, England. It houses the 56-bell Leonidas Polk Memorial Carillon. It was donated by W. Dudley Gale III, a descendant of Bishop Polk, bishop of Louisiana, lieutenant-general in the Confederate Army and a key figure in the founding of the the University of the South. Arthur Bigelow, engineering professor at Princeton University and international expert on bells, designed and installed the carillon. Foundry for the bells was the firm of Les Fils de George Paccard in Annecy, France. They were brought by ship to New Orleans and transported to Sewanee, where in 1958 installation of the bells and construction of the tower was begun.
The carillon has 56 bells with a range of five-and-a-half octaves. The total weight of the bells is 23 tons. The largest bell, called "The Great Bourdon" is a B-flat weighing three and one-half tons, and the smallest bell weighs 22 pounds. The bells are played from a clavier, or keyboard, situated in the playing cabin high in the tower. All bells except the Great Bourdon are stationary, and are struck by clappers activated by levers connected to the keyboard.
The Robert P. Shapard family of Griffin, Georgia, gave the tower, which was built especially to house the bells and is an outstanding example of a structure ideally suited to enhance the sound of the bells. The four-story split belfry begins with the bourdon at the bottom, and above this the seven other bass bells. At the next level is the keyboard in the playing cabin, and above that the high bells.
