Launde Abbey: Chapel

Chapel, largely of the 15th century, with fabric dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries. Originally part of the Augustinian Priory of Launde, it is now attached as a wing to the house. The building is constructed of finely coursed ironstone rubble with a tiled roof. The east gable features a steep parapet and tall pinnacles. A Victorian porch fronts the north side, alongside a visible section of the Norman crossing: round shafts with scalloped capitals and a fragment of arch to the west. A Victorian traceried window is situated between the shafts. The east window and the three south windows are all 15th century, featuring three principal lights with smaller upper lights, and are topped with hood moulds.

Inside, an antechapel or western bay shows the easternmost 12th-century shaft. A narrow Early English archway opens onto the nave, potentially a former chancel arch or the arch to a south aisle chapel of the former Priory Church. The arch is steeply pointed, with an outer chamfer and inner rounded fillet-moulding, supported on corbels resembling small shafts with stiff-leaf capitals and foliate bases. Blank walls with ogee arches mark the inner (eastern) angles of this dividing wall. The remainder of the Chapel is a single space, with the chancel raised slightly and a north doorway. The roof, dating from approximately 1839, includes tie beams and traceried panels above them.

To the north of the altar is the tomb of Gregory Cromwell, a fine Renaissance example from 1551. It is a large, pedimented wall memorial with Corinthian pilasters decorated in low relief, the pediment featuring three putti. The memorial sits atop a base with strapwork cartouche, and the inscription is flanked by high-relief winged horses supporting a shield of arms. Some 15th-century stained glass survives in all of the windows, including three large figures in the east window – one of which is St. Catherine – and smaller figures of the apostles in the south windows. The windows are also filled with Victorian glass from 1879 and 1892. A stone reredos depicting the Last Supper in high relief, constructed from Caen stone (approximately 1839), is present.

Launde Priory, of which this building is a surviving fragment, was founded in 1125 by Richard Bassett and his wife Maud. After its dissolution, it was held by Thomas Cromwell, then by his son Gregory, remaining in the family until 1603.