| Summary : To the west of the stables within the outer bailey at Kenilworth Castle are the foundations of a chapel erected by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, to serve as a chantry or collegiate church. Documentary evidence indicates that it was built between 1314 and 1322 by master mason Richard de Thwaites. Thomas planned his foundation for 13 secular priests, as a fashionable display of piety. However, he died before establishing the college, and there are no further documentary sources referring to it. It was one of the largest private chapels of its time, measuring approximately 14 metres high, and at least 30 metres long. The west end is now buried under a later bank. The interior is likely to have been similar to that of The Lady Chapel of Lichfield built during the same period. Both had a polygonal apse beyond the altar.It was possibly demolished in circa 1524, and its foundations reused for a timber-framed building brought from the Pleasance in the Marsh (Henry V's manor house). This was probably then subsequently removed by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Fragments of the apse and a reset sedilia (seating for the priests at mass) survive. |
More information : Scheduled. Immediately to the west of the stables are the foundations of a building which has been identified as the remains of a second chapel erected by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster in 1313 to serve as a chantry or collegiate church. Documentary evidence indicates that it was more or less completed by 1318, but a chantry was never founded. (1)
To the west of the stables at Kenilworth Castle are the foundations of a building which have been identified as the remains of a second chapel erected by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster in 1313 to serve as a chantry or collegiate church. Documentary evidence indicates that it was more or less completed by 1318. (2)
Registered Park & Garden. (3)
New revised guidebook. To the west of the stables within the outer bailey at Kenilworth Castle are the foundations of a chapel erected by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, to serve as a chantry or collegiate church. Documentary evidence indicates that it was built between 1314 and 1322 by master mason Richard de Thwaites. Thomas planned his foundation for 13 secular priests, as a fashionable display of piety. However, he died before establishing the college, and there are no further documentary sources referring to it.
It was one of the largest private chapels of its time, measuring approximately 14 metres high, and at least 30 metres long. The west end is now buried under a later bank. The interior is likely to have been similar to that of The Lady Chapel of Lichfield built during the same period. Both had a polygonal apse beyond the altar.
It was possibly demolished in circa 1524, and its foundations reused for a timber-framed building brought from the Pleasance in the Marsh (Henry V's manor house). This was probably then subsequently removed by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Fragments of the apse and a reset sedilia (seating for the priests at mass) survive. (4)
|