# Guild Chapel

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Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross The chapel from Church Street Interactive map of Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross 52°11′26″N 1°42′28″W / 52.1905°N 1.7077°W / 52.1905; -1.7077 Location Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire History Built 13th century Site notes Architectural style Perpendicular Gothic Governing body Stratford Town Trust[1] Listed Building – Grade I Official name Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross Designated 25 October 1951 Reference no. 1204554

**The Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross**, [Stratford-upon-Avon](/source/Stratford-upon-Avon), [Warwickshire](/source/Warwickshire) is a chapel of 13th-century origins. Founded by the [Guild of the Holy Cross](/source/Guild_of_the_Holy_Cross_(Stratford-upon-Avon)), it passed into the control of the town corporation in 1553, when the guild was suppressed by [Edward VI](/source/Edward_VI_of_England). The chapel stands on Church Street, opposite the site of [William Shakespeare](/source/William_Shakespeare)'s home, [New Place](/source/New_Place). In his 1496 will, [Hugh Clopton](/source/Hugh_Clopton) paid for a major expansion of the chapel.

The chapel was restored in a thirty-year programme undertaken by [Stephen Dykes Bower](/source/Stephen_Dykes_Bower) from 1954-1983 and is a [Grade I listed building](/source/Listed_building). Owned and maintained by the Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust, the chapel is used for services by [King Edward VI School](/source/King_Edward_VI_School%2C_Stratford-upon-Avon).

## History

### Construction

The [Guild of the Holy Cross](/source/Guild_of_the_Holy_Cross_(Stratford-upon-Avon)) was a [medieval](/source/Medieval) religious membership foundation that became a became a powerful societal force in Stratford-upon-Avon.[2] A 1269 charter gave the guild permission to build a chapel, where service for the souls of members' ancestors was to be conducted.[3] It is not known when exactly the original chapel was built, but 13th century fabric has been found in the [chancel](/source/Chancel). The chapel was refurbished in the 1420s, and the chancel was rebuilt around 1450. It is thought that the [nave](/source/Nave) was not built until the late 15th century, when merchant and former mayor of London [Hugh Clopton](/source/Hugh_Clopton) (c.1440–1496) left money in his will to pay for work on the chapel.[4]

### Reformation

Upon [Henry VIII](/source/Henry_VIII)'s death in early 1547, the new administration under [Edward VI](/source/Edward_VI) introduced a programme of radical [Protestant reform](/source/Edwardian_Reformation). The [dissolution of the chantries](/source/Dissolution_of_the_chantries) spelled an end to the guild, whose former possessions were repurchased by the town in 1553 when Stratford was granted a [charter](/source/Royal_charter) of incorporation. In November 1547, commissioners arrived in Stratford requiring the destruction of shrines and the covering of all "monuments of feigned miracles, pilgrimages, idolatory [*[sic](/source/Sic)*] and superstition". Churchwardens' accounts for other Warwickshire churches like [St Mary's](/source/Collegiate_Church_of_St_Mary%2C_Warwick) record these instructions being carried out, including the taking down of [rood lofts](/source/Rood_screen), dismantling of altars, and [whitewashing](/source/Whitewash). Though accounts for Stratford have not survived, it likely underwent the same changes.[5] The guild chapel, described in the 1553 charter as "all that former chapel", seems to have fallen into disuse in these years.[6]

When [Mary I](/source/Mary_I) came to power she [reversed some of these changes](/source/Mary_I#Religious_policy), and mass was again held in the chapel.[7] When [Elizabeth I](/source/Elizabeth_I) took the throne, she had places of worship once again [purged of Catholic associations](/source/Elizabethan_settlement#Royal_injunctions) in 1559, and the guild chapel became redundant once more.[8] [Iconography](/source/Iconography) that had survived Edward's reign (or had been restored under Mary) was removed under Elizabeth. The earliest surviving evidence of [iconoclasm](/source/Iconoclasm) in the chapel are in the accounts of [John Shakespeare](/source/John_Shakespeare), during his time as chamberlain of the Stratford Corporation. Between 1562 and 1564 two payments of 2 shillings were made: first for "defasyng ymages in ye chapell" and then for "takynge doune ye rood loft in ye Chapell".[9] This seems to have been done in preparation for the use of the chapel in 1564, when preachers were invited to Stratford.[10]

## Wall paintings

Interior of the Guild Chapel, showing the uncovered [Doom painting](/source/Doom_painting) above the chancel

Restoration work in 1804 uncovered a number of wall paintings throughout the chapel. These were described in detail at the time by [Robert Wheler](/source/Robert_Wheler), and drawn by [Thomas Fisher](/source/Thomas_Fisher_(antiquary)); the drawings were published by [John Gough Nichols](/source/John_Gough_Nichols) in 1838.[11] The chancel contained images of the legend of the discovery of the [True Cross](/source/True_Cross). Over the chancel arch was a "[Doom](/source/Doom_painting)", or [Last Judgment](/source/Last_Judgment) painting, featuring Christ sitting on a rainbow, above a rood, and [St John the Baptist](/source/St_John_the_Baptist) and [Mary](/source/Mary%2C_mother_of_Jesus) on either side of him.[12] Some paintings remained undiscovered: in 1576 [John Stow](/source/John_Stow) remarked, in an annotation of his edition of the *Itinerary* of [John Leland](/source/John_Leland_(antiquary)), that the [Dance of Death](/source/Dance_of_Death) (*Danse Macabre*) had been painted around the nave. During restoration work in 1955 Wilfrid Puddephat, art master at [King Edward VI School](/source/King_Edward_VI_School%2C_Stratford-upon-Avon), found traces of the Dance of Death paintings and reconstructed their original appearance.[13]

After the paintings were recorded in the early 19th century, those in the nave were once again covered in whitewash, and those in the chancel, which were painted on plaster that had deteriorated, were destroyed.[14] In 1928, the Last Judgment painting was re-exposed by [Ernest William Tristram](/source/Ernest_William_Tristram).[15]

A major programme of archaeological investigation, carried out by the Department of Archaeology at the [University of York](/source/University_of_York) in the early 21st century and making innovative use of digital modelling,[16] described the chapel as "one of Europe's most important surviving late-medieval [Guild Chapels](/source/Guild_Chapels)".[14]

A restoration project undertaken in 2016[17] won the [Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings](/source/Society_for_the_Protection_of_Ancient_Buildings) John Betjeman award in 2017.[18]

The "Great Bell", a [curfew](/source/Curfew) bell cast in 1633, was renovated in 2018.[19]

## Architecture and description

The [chancel](/source/Chancel) is 13th century, with the [nave](/source/Nave) and tower dating from Hugh Clopton's rebuilding on c.1490.[20]

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Our Estate - Stratford Town Trust - Grant Giving Charity"](https://www.stratfordtowntrust.co.uk/about/estate/). Stratford Town Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Guild of the Holy Cross"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190102002131/https://www.shakespearesschoolroom.org/guild-of-the-cross). *Shakespeare's Schoolroom & Guildhall*. Archived from [the original](https://www.shakespearesschoolroom.org/guild-of-the-cross) on 2 January 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Macdonald, Mairi (2012). "The Guild of the Holy Cross and its Buildings". In Mulryne, J. R.; Morris, James (eds.). *The Guild and Guild Buildings of Shakespeare’s Stratford: Society, Religion, School and Stage*. Ashgate. p. 14. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781409417668](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781409417668).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Giles, Kate; Clark, Jonathan (2012). "The Archaeology of the Guild Buildings of Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon". In Mulryne, J. R.; Morris, James (eds.). *The Guild and Guild Buildings of Shakespeare’s Stratford: Society, Religion, School and Stage*. Ashgate. p. 161. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781409417668](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781409417668).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Bearman, Robert (2007). ["The Early Reformation Experience in a Warwickshire Market Town: Stratford-upon-Avon, 1530-1580"](https://www.stratfordsociety.co.uk/files/Early_Reformation_Experience.pdf) (PDF). *Midland History*. **32** (1): 81–82. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1179/mdh.2007.32.1.68](https://doi.org/10.1179%2Fmdh.2007.32.1.68).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Bearman (2007). p. 97

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Bearman (2007). p. 91, 97

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Bearman (2007). p. 97

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Savage, Richard, ed. (1921). [*Minutes and Accounts of the Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon and other Records, 1553–1620*](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924009710934&seq=11). Vol. 1. Warwick: The Dugdale Society.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Bearman (2007). p. 98

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Giles & Clark (2000). p. 162.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Giles & Clark (2000). p. 161–163.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Giles & Clark (2000). p. 163–164.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-intarc2012_14-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-intarc2012_14-1) Giles, K.; Masinton, A.; Arnott, G. (2012), ["Visualising the Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon: digital models as research tools in buildings archaeology"](https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue32/giles_toc.html), *Internet Archaeology* (32), [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.11141/ia.32.1](https://doi.org/10.11141%2Fia.32.1), retrieved 2 March 2026

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Giles & Clark (2000). p. 163.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["The Use of Virtual Models of Historic Churches"](http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/virtual-churches/virtual-churches.htm). *www.buildingconservation.com*. Buildings Conservation. Retrieved 2 January 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Giles, Kate (2 December 2016). ["Why did Shakespeare's father paint over iconic medieval murals?"](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/why-did-shakespeare-s-father-paint-over-iconic-medieval-murals-a7450386.html). *The Independent*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["John Betjeman Award celebrates wall paintings at Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon"](https://www.spab.org.uk/news/john-betjeman-award-celebrates-wall-paintings-guild-chapel-stratford-upon-avon). *The SPAB*. Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. 5 June 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190102143257/http://taylorbells.co.uk/project/stratford-upon-avon-warwickshire/). *John Taylor & Co*. Archived from [the original](http://taylorbells.co.uk/project/stratford-upon-avon-warwickshire/) on 2 January 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** [Historic England](/source/Historic_England). ["GUILD CHAPEL OF THE HOLY CROSS, Stratford-upon-Avon (1204554)"](https://HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1204554?section=official-list-entry). *[National Heritage List for England](/source/National_Heritage_List_for_England)*. Retrieved 2 January 2019.

## Sources

- Pickford, Chris; [Pevsner, Nikolaus](/source/Nikolaus_Pevsner) (2016). *Warwickshire*. The Buildings Of England. New Haven, CT and London: [Yale University Press](/source/Yale_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-300-21560-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-300-21560-1). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [953624003](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/953624003).

- Rosser, Gervase (2015). [*The Art of Solidarity in the Middle Ages: Guilds in England 1250-1550*](https://books.google.com/books?id=TLHlBgAAQBAJ&q=guild+chapel+of+the+holy+cross+stratford&pg=PA77). New Haven, CT and London: [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-1910-1755-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-1910-1755-1).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross, Stratford](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Guild_Chapel_of_the_Holy_Cross,_Stratford).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Guild Chapel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_Chapel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_Chapel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.