Guild Chapel Of The Holy Cross

Guild Chapel of The Holy Cross, Stratford-upon-Avon

This is a guild chapel on Church Street, serving the Guild of the Holy Cross. It comprises a 13th-century chancel that was substantially altered around 1450, a nave and tower dating from around 1490 onwards. The building was restored in 1804, its roofs rebuilt, and then underwent comprehensive restoration and refurbishment in the 1950s by S Dykes-Bower. The late 15th-century work was paid for by Sir Hugh Clopton.

The chapel is constructed in squared and dressed sandstone ashlar with parapeted roofs. The plan consists of a two-bay chancel and four-bay nave, with a west tower and north porch.

The chancel features a plain plinth, diagonal buttresses, a top cornice and coped parapet. Its east window contains five cusped lights under a four-centred head, with similar two-light windows to the north and south. A pointed south entrance has a door with a pierced scutcheon plate.

The nave has a deep plinth, offset buttresses and diagonal buttresses, a top cornice and crenellated parapet with crocketed pinnacles. Four-light transomed windows display Perpendicular tracery throughout.

The gabled north porch has diagonal buttresses and a cornice with gargoyles, together with a crenellated parapet to the gable and returns. The entrance has a four-centred head with continuous moulding, an ogival hood containing a tracery panel with crockets and a fleuron forming the plinth to a niche with a nodding ogee head. Flanking square panels have label moulds and angels bearing shields. The battened door features a leaf-pattern handle and scutcheon plates. The return contains blind four-light square-headed windows with labels, while the inner entrance has a four-centred head and enriched spandrels with 20th-century paired doors. A similar south door exists on the opposite side.

The tower has diagonal buttresses, string courses and cornice, and a crenellated parapet with pinnacles. The west door has a four-centred head, spandrels and label mould, with a 15th-century battened door bearing tracery. A tall three-light transomed west window displays Perpendicular tracery and a hood. Two-light louvred bell openings serve the bells. The north side carries a clock face with the Clopton arms in a panel above, whilst the south side has a cusped light. Some 18th-century rainwater heads survive.

Internally, the chapel has 19th-century plaster ceilings with cornices and flagged floors. The chancel arch displays rich mouldings, though its top has been cut by the ceiling. The nave features panels between windows with cusped and crocketed heads. A tall tower arch opens to the nave. The north and south doors at the west end have hoods with crockets and finials and stops; the south door retains one angel stop and its original door, whilst the north door has square stops.

The chancel contains fielded-panelled wainscotting and matching stalls, together with a low reredos having panelled pilasters and festoons of oak and olive with drapery. An 18th-century altar rail has panelled posts and spiral balusters. The nave features late 20th-century fielded-panelled panelling and stalls with candlestick-style light fittings. Paired three-fielded-panel doors and an organ loft open to the tower arch, with a coved ceiling above.

A tablet to Sir Hugh Clopton, who died in 1496, is mounted on the chancel south wall, erected in 1708. It is a tall nowy-headed panel bearing an armorial and long inscription recording his benefactions, with concave lower angles.

The chancel windows contain 20th-century stained glass depicting figures of notable people in Stratford's history, marked with a lion passant maker's mark.

Important late 15th-century wall paintings survive, notably a Doom above the chancel arch. A series of saints once decorated the panels between windows, of which three remain but in damaged condition. Some painting is exposed on the west wall, but paintings to the north and south walls, including a Dance of Death, are covered by panelling.

The chapel has been used by King Edward VI Grammar School since 1553, when the Guild was dissolved.