Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross

Details

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

SP2054NW CHURCH STREET 604-1/10/49 (East side) 25/10/51 Guild Chapel of The Holy Cross

GV I

Formerly known as: Guildhall (part) CHURCH STREET. Guild chapel. C13 chancel with alterations of c1450; nave and tower c1490ff; restored 1804, roofs rebuilt; restored and refurnished 1950s by S Dykes-Bower. For Guild of the Holy Cross; late C15 work paid for by Sir Hugh Clopton. Sandstone squared dressed stone and ashlar; parapeted roofs. PLAN: 2-bay chancel and 4-bay nave with west tower and north porch. Perpendicular style. EXTERIOR: chancel has plain plinth, diagonal buttresses and top cornice and coped parapet. East window of 5 cusped lights under 4-centred head; similar 2-light north and south windows; pointed south entrance with door with pierced scutcheon plate. Nave has deep plinth, offset buttresses and diagonal buttresses, top cornice and crenellated parapet with crocketed pinnacles; 4-light transomed windows with Perpendicular tracery. Gabled porch has diagonal buttresses, cornice with gargoyles, and crenellated parapet to gable and returns. Entrance has 4-centred head and continuous moulding, ogival hood with tracery panel, crockets, and fleuron forming plinth to niche with nodding ogee head, flanking square panels with label moulds and angels with shields, battened door with leaf-pattern handle and scutcheon plates; return blind 4-light square-headed windows with labels; inner entrance with 4-centred head and enriched spandrels, C20 paired doors. Similar south door. Tower has diagonal buttresses, string courses and cornice and crenellated parapet with pinnacles; west door with 4-centred head, spandrels and label mould, C15 battened door with tracery; tall 3-light transomed west window with Perpendicular tracery and hood; 2-light louvred bell openings; clock face to north side with shield in panel above (Clopton arms); cusped light to south side. Some C18 rainwater heads. INTERIOR: C19 plaster ceilings with cornices; flagged floors. Chancel arch has rich mouldings, top to chancel cut by ceiling; nave has panels between windows with cusped and crocketed heads; tall tower arch; north and south doors to west end have hoods with crockets and finials and stops; south door has one remaining angel stop and old door, north door has square stops. FITTINGS: chancel has fielded-panelled wainscotting and similar stalls, low reredos with panelled pilasters and festoons of oak and olive with drapery; C18 altar rail has panelled posts and spiral balusters. Nave has late C20 fielded-panelled panelling and stalls with candlestick style light fittings; paired 3-fielded-panel doors and organ loft to tower arch; coved ceiling. MEMORIALS: chancel south wall tablet to Sir Hugh Clopton, d.1496, erected 1708, tall nowy-headed panel with armorial bearing over long inscription recording benefactions, concave lower angles. STAINED GLASS: chancel windows have C20 windows with figures of notable people in the history of Stratford; lion passant maker's mark. WALL PAINTINGS: important late C15 wall paintings, notably a Doom over the chancel arch; of a series of saints to the panels between windows, 3 remain but damaged; some painting exposed to west wall, but this and paintings to north and south walls are covered by panelling and include a Dance of Death. Used by King Edward VI Grammar School since 1553, when the Guild was dissolved. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Warwickshire: London: 1966-: 414; VCH (offprint): Styles P: The Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Parish of Alveston: London: 1946-: 60-2; Transactions of the Birmingham Archaeological Society (reprint): Puddephat W: The Mural Paintings of the Dance of Death in the Guild Chapel: Oxford: 1960-; Puddephat W: The Guild Chapel & Other Guild Buildings of Stratford-upon-Avon: Stratford-upon-Avon: 1987-).

Listing NGR: SP2007654738

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

366198

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Styles, P, The Borough of Stratford Upon Avon and the Parish of Alveston, (1946), 60-2
Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1966), 414
Puddephat, W, Transactions of the Birmingham Archaeological Society in The Guild Chapel and Other Guild Buildings of Stratford upon Avon, (1987)
Puddephat, W, Transactions of the Birmingham Archaeological Society in The Mural Paintings of the Dance of Death in the Guild Chapel, (1960)

End of official list entry

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