Guild Chapel
{{Short description|Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross
| native_name =
| native_language =
| image = Stratford upon Avon - panoramio (6).jpg
| caption = The chapel from Church Street
| type =
| locmapin = Warwickshire
| coordinates = {{coord|52.1905 | -1.7077 |display=inline,title}}
| location = Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
| area =
| built = 13th century
| architect =
| architecture = Perpendicular
| governing_body = Stratford Town Trust{{cite web|url=https://www.stratfordtowntrust.co.uk/about/estate/|title=Our Estate - Stratford Town Trust - Grant Giving Charity|publisher=Stratford Town Trust|accessdate=2 January 2019}}
| owner =
| designation1 = Grade I
| designation1_offname = Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross
| designation1_date = 25 October 1951
| designation1_number = 1204554.
| designation2 =
| designation2_offname =
| designation2_date =
| designation2_number =
| designation3 =
| designation3_offname =
| designation3_date =
| designation3_number =
| designation4 =
| designation4_offname =
| designation4_date =
| designation4_number =
| designation5 =
| designation5_offname =
| designation5_date =
| designation5_number =
}}
The Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire is a chapel of 13th-century origins. Founded by the Guild of the Holy Cross before 1269, it passed into the control of the town corporation in 1553, when the Guild was suppressed by Edward VI. The chapel stands on Church Street, opposite the site of William Shakespeare's home, New Place, and has historic connections to Shakespeare's family. The chapel was gifted an extensive series of wall-paintings by Hugh Clopton, an earlier owner of New Place, and John Shakespeare, Shakespeare's father, undertook their defacement in the later 1500s. The paintings have recently been conserved.
Clopton undertook a major expansion of the chapel before his death in 1496, constructing a new nave which was incomplete when he died. The chapel was restored in a thirty-year programme undertaken by Stephen Dykes Bower from 1954-1983 and is a Grade I listed building. Owned and maintained by the Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust, the chapel is used for services by King Edward VI School.
History
The Guild of the Holy Cross was a medieval religious membership foundation and the guild in Stratford-upon-Avon became a powerful societal force.{{cite web|url=https://www.shakespearesschoolroom.org/guild-of-the-cross|title=One of the most atmospheric, magical & important buildings in Britain|website=www.shakespearesschoolroom.org|publisher=King Edward VI School|accessdate=2 January 2019}} Members paid fees to join and a range of services were provided, including a hospital and a school, the provision of a priest to pray for the dead, as well as support for the poor. Within the town, the guild constructed its guildhall on Church Street{{cite web|url=https://www.stratfordtowntrust.co.uk/about/history/|title=History|publisher=Stratford Town Trust |accessdate=2 January 2019}} and the adjacent chapel was built circa 1260.{{sfn|Pickford|Pevsner|2016|pp=593-594}}
Clopton's wall-paintings depicted a cycle of images{{sfn|Rosser|2015|p=77}} showing, among others, the Doom, the Allegory of Death, the Life of Adam and St George Slaying the Dragon. They were covered over by John Shakespeare some time in the 1560s-1570s, acting as town chamberlain and in accordance with Elizabeth I's injunction of 1559 to remove "all signs of superstition and idolatry from places of worship".{{cite web|url=http://www.guildchapel.org.uk/the-wall-paintings/|title=The Wall Paintings|publisher=Stratford Town Trust|accessdate=2 January 2019|archive-date=29 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029224419/http://www.guildchapel.org.uk/the-wall-paintings/|url-status=dead}} John Shakespeare's contemporary record details his paying two shillings for "defasyng ymages in ye chapel".{{cite web|url=http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue32/1/2.3.html|title=Internet Archaeol. 32. Giles et al. 2.3 The Holy Cross Guild Chapel|website=intarch.ac.uk|publisher=Internet Archeology|accessdate=2 January 2019}} The wall-paintings were rediscovered under limewash in 1804{{cite web|url=http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/book/ancient-allegorical-historical-and-legendary-paintings-in-fresco-discovered/marc|title=Ancient Allegorical, Historical, And Legendary Paintings, In Fresco, Discovered In The Summer Of 1804, On The Walls Of The Chapel Of The Trinity, Belonging To The Gilde Of The Holy Cross|website=www.royalacademy.org.uk|publisher=Royal Academy of Arts|accessdate=2 January 2019}} and were recorded by the antiquarian and draughtsman Thomas Fisher.{{cite web|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/1070057/ancient-allegorical-historical-and-legendary-paintings-in-fresco-discovered-in|title=John Gough Nichols (1806-73) - Ancient allegorical, historical and legendary paintings in fresco discovered in 1804 in the Chapel of the Trinity - from drawings by Thomas Fisher|website=www.rct.uk|publisher=Royal Collections Trust|accessdate=2 January 2019}} A restoration project undertaken in 2016{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/why-did-shakespeare-s-father-paint-over-iconic-medieval-murals-a7450386.html|title=Why did Shakespeare's father paint over iconic medieval murals?|first=Kate|last=Giles|date=2 December 2016|work=The Independent}} won the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings John Betjeman award in 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.spab.org.uk/news/john-betjeman-award-celebrates-wall-paintings-guild-chapel-stratford-upon-avon|title=John Betjeman Award celebrates wall paintings at Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon|publisher=Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings|date=5 June 2018|website=The SPAB}}
File:GUILD CHAPEL medieval wall paintings 8018.jpg
A major programme of archaeological investigation, carried out by the Department of Archaeology at the University of York in the early 21st century and making innovative use of digital modelling,{{cite web|url=http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/virtual-churches/virtual-churches.htm|title=The Use of Virtual Models of Historic Churches|publisher=Buildings Conservation|website=www.buildingconservation.com|accessdate=2 January 2019}} described the chapel as "one of Europe's most important surviving late-medieval Guild Chapels".{{cite web |title=Internet Archaeol. 32. Giles et al. Visualising the Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon.Summary |url=http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue32/giles_index.html |accessdate=2 January 2019 |website=intarch.ac.uk |publisher=Internet Archaeology |doi=10.11141/ia.32.1}}
The 'Great Bell', a curfew bell cast in 1633, was renovated in 2018.{{cite web|url=http://taylorbells.co.uk/project/stratford-upon-avon-warwickshire/|title=Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire|publisher=John Taylor & Co|accessdate=2 January 2019}}
Architecture and description
The chancel is 13th century, with the nave and tower dating from Hugh Clopton's rebuilding on c.1490.{{NHLE|num=1204554|desc=GUILD CHAPEL OF THE HOLY CROSS, Stratford-upon-Avon |accessdate=2 January 2019}}
Notes
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book
| last1 = Pickford | first1 = Chris
| last2 = Pevsner | first2 = Nikolaus
| authorlink2 = Nikolaus Pevsner
| title = Warwickshire
| series = The Buildings Of England
| year = 2016
| url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/953624003
| publisher = Yale University Press
| location = New Haven, CT and London
| isbn = 978-0-300-21560-1
| oclc = 953624003
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Rosser | first = Gervase
| title = The Art of Solidarity in the Middle Ages: Guilds in England 1250-1550
| year = 2015
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TLHlBgAAQBAJ&q=guild+chapel+of+the+holy+cross+stratford&pg=PA77
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| location = New Haven, CT and London
| isbn = 978-0-1910-1755-1
}}
External links
{{Commons category|Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross, Stratford}}