The Guildhall & Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon

The Guildhall

The original building was most probably slightly larger but part of it had to be relinquished when the Guild Chapel was rebuilt. This can be presumed from the absence of braces at the south end of the Church Street front of the building.

The cultural and administrative importance of the building temporarily came to an end in the 19th century. The timber-framed facade was plastered over towards the beginning of the century and the decline of the building continued when the lower floor was converted into the fire station, which necessitated the creation of large openings for the horse-drawn vehicles. This conversion almost led to the destruction of the building itself.

In the last decade of the century the building was restored to its former state. The ground floor is now the school library and the upper floor is used for teaching.

The Guildhall is now one of the oldest school buildings in England.

The Chapel and Guild of the Holy Cross

The Guild Chapel one of Stratford’s best-known buildings.  Situated on the corner of Chapel Lane and Church Street, it overlooks the site of New Place - Shakespeare’s Stratford home, in which he died, in April 1616.

The story begins in 1269, when one of Stratford’s religious guilds, the Guild of the Holy Cross, obtained permission to build a hospital in the town for poor priests of the diocese.  

The chancel of the Guild Chapel incorporates portions of the original building which, within a few years was taken over by the Guild for it’s own use, both for meetings of members, and a place where priests could say prayers for the safety of members’ souls when they died.  

The Guild prospered during the fifteenth century, building a new guild hall, a school and almshouses for the aged and infirm members. In the 1490’s, Hugh Clopton, a native of the town who had made his fortune as a mercer in London, left money in his will for major rebuilding work on the chapel, represented today by the nave, tower and porch. At the same time the interior was lavishly decorated withwall-paintings, substantial traces of which remain, notably the Doom over the chancel arch.

The Guild was suppressed at the reformation and its extensive property, including the chapel, confiscated by the Crown until granted, in 1553 to the newly chartered Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon.

From this date the chapel has been in lay ownership, either the Borough Council or, since 2001, Stratford Town Trust.

The Doom

The impressive Doom, painted above the chancel arch, is one of the largest surviving versions of its kind in Britain.  

It is the largest surviving fragment of a series of frescoes, painted in the late fifteenth century, which lined the wall of the chapel, depicting, among other religious topics, the legend of the Holy Cross, St George and the Dragon, the martyrdom of St Thomas Beckett and the Dance of Death.

Covered over by layers of whitewash after the Reformation, the paintings were rediscovered during building work in 1804 and recorded by the antiquary Thomas Fisher.   

Few survived the renovations of the nineteenth century, but in 1955 when the gallery was removed, those surviving came to light.Many are protected by the panelling in the nave, and an extensive “Mememto Mori” at the base of the tower arch is occasionally revealed behind hinged panels.