Guild Chapel - Chapel Street - Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
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SMacB
N 52° 11.436 W 001° 42.473
30U E 588325 N 5783024
An information board outside the Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Waymark Code: WMZJ82
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/18/2018
Views: 0
An information board outside the Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon.
"As it exists today, the fabric of the east and south walls of the Guild Chapel’s chancel may date in part to the 13th century.
We are not sure when the hospital ceased to exist, but we do know the chancel and north wall were re-modelled around 1450, and that the nave, porch and tower you see today were added around the 1490s, funded from a bequest in the will of Hugh Clopton. Most of the wall paintings also date from this time, also funded by Hugh Clopton’s will. By the end of the 15th century, the Guild had become the town’s semi-official governing body. But the reformation was its undoing. King Edward VI suppressed all the guilds in the kingdom in 1547, and confiscated their property. In Stratford, it was the end of an era. The Guild was abolished, but the King still needed people he could trust to run Stratford from day to day. So, in 1553 he issued a Royal Charter of Incorporation to create the Corporation of Stratford. The town corporation was granted ownership of the Holy Cross Chapel.
The Chapel has been through several transformations since then – we know for example that early in the 17th century it was divided up, with the chancel partitioned into tenanted chambers. In 1804, a major refurbishment was undertaken, at which point the medieval wall paintings were discovered – but then re-covered. In the 20th century, further major works were carried out, funded by the Friends of the Guild Chapel at a time when the building had fallen into significant disrepair."
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The info board reads:
THE GUILD CHAPEL
Founded 1269
The fraternity or Guild of the Holy Cross was already in existence in 1269, when Bishop Godfrey Giffard of Worcester granted a licence to the Brethren of the Guild to build a Chapel and to found a hospital for the poor priests of the diocese.
The present fabric of the chancel incorporates portions of the original building, but the nave and tower were added in the fifteenth century.
Following the suppression of the Guild in 1547, the Chapel was granted by the Crown in 1553 to the Mayor and Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon as trustees of the Charity: The Guild Estate.
The Guild Chapel has played an important part in the life of the community from early days and was without doubt one of the buildings particularly familiar to Shakespeare. For generations it has served as the Chapel of the Grammar School adjoining, which was originally founded by the Guild, as were the Guildhall and Almshouses which are a continuation to the south of the tower."