Description

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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17528353

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)