Parts of the Guild Chapel may date back to 1269 when the Guild of the Holy Cross was given permission to build a hospital and chapel. The chancel was rebuilt in the 1450s and the nave, porch and west tower were reconstructed in the 1490s This later work was funded by Hugh Clopton (died 1496), a Stratford-born man who had prospered in London as a mercer – a dealer in textiles – and who served as Lord Mayor there in 1491. The interior was decorated with wall paintings, substantial parts of which survive.*

In the late 15th and early 16th centuries the walls were painted with a series of striking images. These all depicted the saints, the gates of heaven and hell, and other popular reflections on the afterlife. Following the Reformation, these images were banned, Elizabeth I passing Royal Injunction in 1559 demanding “removal of all signs of superstition and idolatry from places of worship”.

In Stratford, that Royal injunction was received by the Corporation of Stratford and John Shakespeare, father of the playwright, who was Chamberlain of the Corporation. Surviving council records show that in 1563 John Shakespeare authorised payment of 2s for ‘defasyng ymages in ye chappell’. Whether they were all covered at that time or at a later date is unknown. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and it is quite possible the paintings, or some of them, were still visible during his lifetime. Speculation also surrounds John Shakespeare’s willingness to follow the orders he was given, with scholars long debating whether John and his family followed the Catholic faith the Reformation was out to suppress. What we do know is that rather than the paintings being defaced, they were largely limewashed over instead (only the face of the Archangel Michael in the Allegory of Death painting can be seen to have been clearly ‘defaced’ – literally scratched away). This limewashing actually served to protect the paintings, many of them in very fine detail.**

• *Information from a plaque outside the Guild Chapel
• **Information from the Guild Chapel website

Raby Castle was built in the 14th century by the Nevill family. It was home to Cecily Nevill, mother of two kings of England, it was also the scene of the plotting of the Rising of the North and a Parliamentary stronghold during the Civil War.

Originally moated and accessed via a drawbridge, the Castle was built as a palace fortress. It is characterised by a sequence of massive towers linked by curtain walls. It’s completeness is of national significance as a largely single-phase structure, with one twelfth century survival (Bulmer’s Tower).

The Nevills, responsible for building the 14th century Castle which still stands today, continued to live at Raby until 1569 when, after the failure of the Rising of the North, the Castle and its lands were forfeited to the Crown. The 6th Earl of Westmorland was the last of the Nevills to live at Raby Castle.

He fled from Raby in 1569 after The Rising of the North and died in exile in Holland in 1601.

In 1626, Sir Henry Vane the Elder, Member of Parliament and important member of Charles I’s household, purchased Raby from the Crown. The Vane family still own Raby, the present owner being the 12th Lord Barnard.

The chapel of St Leonard stands in the outer court. It was built as the parish church by Sir Thomas Hungerford between about 1370 and 1383. The small north chapel (dedicated to St Anne) was added in about 1400 to house his tomb.

It became the castle chapel in the 1440s and was further altered in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 19th century it was used to display the collection of armour and ‘curiosities’ of Colonel John Houlton, then the castle’s owner.

The interior is notable for its many Hungerford family monuments and its wall-paintings. The principal monuments are those of Sir Thomas and his second wife, Lady Joan, with their effigies, which still retain traces of original paintwork and are surrounded by fine later medieval wrought-iron railings; and the lavish 17th-century marble monument to Sir Edward Hungerford III and his wife, Lady Margaret.

Probably between 1658 and 1665, Lady Margaret transformed the north chapel into a shrine for this monument. She added new windows, chequered marble paving, elaborate wrought-iron gates, and an extraordinary scheme of wall- and ceiling paintings, representing a paradise copiously bedecked with Hungerford family heraldry.

The east end of the main chapel displays the remains of earlier wall-paintings, including a nearly life-sized depiction of St George, probably commissioned in the 1440s by Walter, 1st Lord Hungerford.

For today’s walk I retraced my steps after my planned circular walk picking up a prescription for my mum did not work out according to plan yesterday. I took time to look at the finer detail leading me to some childhood memories rather than the circular walk I had planned. I loved every minute of the walk

Here follows the tale of my walk to the pharmacy.

On arrival at the pharmacy to pick up mums prescription I noticed that there were a lot of people in front of the building. I stopped on the corner of the road to put on a face mask and then started to make my way down the path to the pharmacy. As I did so I heard continuous coughing behind me and turned to see a man coughing and blowing his nose with his mask up and down. Not wanting to take any chances I stepped aside to let him past me.

As I joined the queue for the pharmacy it became apparent there were two queues. There was another queue of people waiting for their Covid vaccine at the medical practice next door. The two doors are next to each other which led to chaos and people joining the wrong queue.

Eventually it was time for me to enter the pharmacy, only to find that mums prescription had been not been made up. I had to wait outside whilst the prescription was made up.

As I was waiting I listened to the saga of two men that had turned up expecting to be vaccinated and were turned away. I found out later from the local newspaper that there had been an administrative error. Text messages had been sent out to advise that Covid vaccines were available without an appointment when this was not the case. I didn’t hear the full tail of their woes…

My mums name was called out, her prescription was ready. What I received seemed to differ from what she told me had been prescribed to her leading me to take it round to her straight away rather than later in the day on my evening visit.

Rather than my circular route I walked the direct route home to pick up my car! To add insult to injury it started to rain as I made my way back home.

Thankfully when mum and I looked at the bag of pills and paperwork they were what she had ordered.

]]> http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2021/02/07/the-best-laid-plans/feed/ 4 http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2018/12/03/bishop-alcocks-chantry-chapel/ http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/2018/12/03/bishop-alcocks-chantry-chapel/#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2018 22:03:10 +0000 CherryPie http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/?p=21591

Bishop John Alcock was successively Lord Chancellor, Lord President of Wales and the Comptroller of the Royal Works and Buildings to King Henry VII. He was a generous benefactor to the University of Cambridge – he gave manuscripts to Peterhouse College and founded Jesus College, and was the builder of the main part of the Bishop’s Palace at Ely. This chapel where he is buried was begun in 1488; it appears that it was originally intended to encompass a much larger area than its current footprint within the Cathedral. It contains many examples of Bishop Alcock’s rebus (a picture to represent words), a cockerel standing on a globe – a pun on his name.*

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labour in vain.
Psalm 127:1

*From a signboard next to the chapel

Nicholas West was Bishop of Ely between 1515 – 1534:

Although in his undergraduate days he had a reputation as a trouble maker, Nicholas West made good. He was employed by King Henry VII as his Chaplain, and by King Henry VIII as a diplomatic envoy, until he took up the cause of Queen Catherine and opposed the divorce. It is recorded that ‘he lived in the greatest splendour of any Prelate in his time’, yet he fed ‘warm meat and drink to the excess of 200 people per day’ (recorded by Robert Steward, Prior of Ely). He was a learned man who, despite his largesse, died a very rich man; on his death he was recorded as having 250 books and 5,000 ounces of silver and silver gilt – more than Ely Monastery had on its dissolution.

He gave large gifts to King’s College where he had been an undergraduate and he built this Chantry, on the walls of which he cause do be carved ‘Gratia Dei sum id quod sum’ (By the grace of God I am what I am) I Corinthians 15:10.*

‘When anyone is joined to Christ, there is a new creation: the old is gone, the new has come.’ 2 Corinthians 5:17*

Bishop Woodford, whose memorial I showed in my recent post is buried within Bishop West’s Chapel:

Bishops Greene (d. 1738), Keene (d. 1781), Sparke (d. 1836), and Woodford (d. 1885) are all buried in this chapel. On the south side, within a shrine-like receptacle, have been placed the relics of seven early benefactors of the church. Originally buried in the Saxon church, they have been several limes removed. They were placed here in 1771. The names are carved in seven shallow niches. One was an archbishop, five were bishops, and the seventh was Alderman Brithnoth. The dates range from 991 to 1067.

*From an information board next to the Chapel

There has been a small chapel in the north east corner of Adlington Hall since 1398. This was the year that Sir Robert de Legh was granted a licence ‘for celebration of Divine Service within the precincts of the manor’. The original Georgian Chapel was pulled down in 1928 and replaced by the current Chapel.*

*Information from the Adlington Hall guide book

After breakfast we made our way to Arundel in order to visit the castle. The lady who sold us our tickets helped us choose the most economical way to purchase tickets given that we were able to claim discounts. She advised us to visit the gardens first and then make our way to the shop where we should upgrade our tickets to include the castle interior. The rose and walled gardens, with their fountains, were spectacular and at their best.

We also visited the Fitzalan Chapel which is the Eastern end of a church building. This is divided by glass from the Southern end which is home to the Parish Church. This is one of very few churches that is currently divided in this way, Catholic in one half and Anglican in the other.

After upgrading our ticket we had lunch. Our next port of call was the castle keep which is the oldest part of the castle. As we got higher up the castle keep this caused me a problem due to the narrowness of the spiral staircase. I was struggling to balance whilst holding my bag and camera out of the way. Eventually I made it and the views were worth the struggle.

Before we descended via another spiral staircase Mr C put my bag in his rucksack. Ironically this staircase was wider that the staircase on the way up.

The rooms in the castle were full of interesting treasures and history and the rooms guides ready to impart additional information and answer questions. The library which had at one time been the long gallery was spectacular.

Before leaving the castle we had another drink in the cafe and I purchased guide books about the castle and chapel. As I was making the purchase the lady who served me was pleased that I was buying ‘The Arundel Church with the Fitzalan Chapel’ guide because she was featured in a couple of the photographs. I asked her to point the photo out to me; it is one of her singing in the Church Choir which led to us having a conversation about choral singing.

Whilst leaving the castle we met the lady who had sold us our entry ticket earlier in the day. She remembered us and asked  if we had enjoyed our day and whether we were staying in the area. She asked what other things we planned to visit before offering some suggestions of her own to add to our list. She told us about a lake with walks just beyond the castle and also a Wildlife and Wetlands Trust (WWT) reserve .

We had a short amount of time to spare so we went to investigate. We weren’t in the mood for the lake so we went to investigate the WWT reserve when Mr C rather rashly paid to go in even though we only intended on spending half an hour there.

The visit was very enjoyable and we saw many species of ducks and geese, several of which Mr C had not seen before. Unfortunately I had left my hat in the car so needed to seek out shady places to cool off whilst enjoying the lake views.

For our evening meal we dined al fresco in Purchases Restaurant which had a continental feel to it. Once again the food was delicious. After the meal Mr C took me into Wetherspoons for a nightcap before returning to the B&B. The noisy atmosphere was quite a contrast to the lovely ambience of the restaurant and there was a miscommunication on what wine was available. It was another venue to strike off our list of return visits

The memorial chapel on the south side, was once the chantry chapel of John Argentein. Provost 1501-1507, who was physician to Edward IV and the young Edward V and his brother, the murdered princes in the Tower. His brass lies before the altar, and in this chapel there is also a record of the Provosts of King’s through the centuries. The chapel was converted into a war memorial in 1920-1921 and renamed All Souls Memorial Chapel. A tablet recalls college members who died in the two world wars, among them the poet Rupert Brooke.*

*From a guide to King’s College Chapel, Cambridge

King’s College Chapel is arguably the most magnificent example of late medieval English architecture in the entire country. Guidebooks run out of superlatives to describe the richness of its interior decoration and the sumptuous flowing lines of the structural elements.

The Chapel was founded by Henry VI in 1441 as part of his grand scheme for creating at King’s a college to take graduates of Eton, founded the previous year. The chapel was intended to form one side of a grand court but the residential ranges planned for the other three sides of the court were never completed.

Henry compelled landowners in the town to sell him plots along the river, and he proceded to pull down residences, shops, and even a parish church to make room for his creation. Henry intended his chapel to be without equal.

He employed his royal architect, Reginald of Ely, to draw up plans for a church along the lines of a cathedral choir, and Henry himself laid the foundation stone of the new chapel on 25 July 1446.
Building continued until 1461, through the opening hostilities of the Wars of the Roses. But when Henry VI was taken prisoner by thefuture Edward IV, workmen packed up their tools and went home. It is said that a half-cut stone left by the workmen was eventually used as the foundation stone for the Gibb’s building in 1724.

The extent of this early building phase is clearly noticeable. The builders used white Tadcaster limestone, and the upper limit of this stone can be traced, particularly in the butresses. Very little building was done under Edward IV, but Richard II’s short reign saw the first 5 bays of the chapel completed and put into daily use.

Henry VII provided the necessary funds to turn the half-finished chapel into a complete building. The chest which carried Henry’s initial gift of money is preserved in the Chapel Exhibition in the northern side chapel. The main structure was finished in 1515, and Henry VIII funded the interior woodwork and screen.

The magnificent – there is no other word to describe it – fan vaulting was completed in just 3 years, between 1512-1515 by master mason John Wastell.

The chapel surprisingly escaped major damage during the Civil War, despite the fact that Cromwell’s troops used it for a training ground in inclement weather. It is possible that Cromwell himself, being a Cambridge student, gave orders to spare the chapel. Most of the stained glass was removed during WWII, and the Chapel again escaped damage.