The Kelham Rood

The Kelham Rood is a beautiful life-size bronze sculpture of Christ on the Cross together with free-standing figures of St John and the Virgin Mary, and is the work of sculptor Charles Jagger (1885-1934).

The sculpture is on permanent loan to St John the Divine from the Society of the Sacred Mission. It stands on the south side of the nave.

 

About the scultpure

The Kelham Rood was originally commissioned by the Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM) for its chapel at Kelham Hall in Nottinghamshire and completed in 1929. When the SSM moved out of Kelham, the Rood went to its Priory in Willen near Milton Keynes, where it stood in the garden.

It was restored by Rupert Harris in 2003-4 and is now on permanent loan to the church of St John the Divine, Kennington. The move is especially appropriate since the SSM was founded at St John the Divine in the nineteenth century.

The sculptor
Charles Jagger served in the First World war and it is believed that the Rood reveals his preoccupation with the problem of suffering. The Rood is considered to be the best piece of work by Sergeant Jagger.

Jagger sculpted many European war memorials including the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London.

 

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