Building record 130/1/1 - Magdalen College Chapel of Saints John & James

Chapel of St John's Hospital was founded by Robert Earl of Leicester (d. 1168); now used as Magdalen School Chapel. The original chapel was restored in 1746 and twice again in the C19th.

{1} Founded by Robert "Le Bossu" Earl of Leicester who died in 1168; founded as chapel of St Johns Hospital (see Doyle Off Baronage II 336); now used as Magdalen College School chapel; nave of ashlar & coursed rubble with tower on north-west; west end exterior has a reset C12th door with above it a 3-light C13th window on each side of which are moulded niches each with a seated figure; top of this gable end has been rebuilt; whole chapel was restored in 1746 & twice in C19th; work done at latter time for vicar Canon Thickness by architect Mr Buckeridge and is described in "A History of Brackley" by A Green 1869.

{2} Chapel of St John's Hospital was founded by Robert Earl of Leicester (d. 1168); now used as Magdalen School Chapel. The original chapel was restored in 1746 and twice again in the C19th.

{4} Hospital and chapel still exist with C13th and C14th work.

{6} Information on standing structure.

{10} The Hospital had been composed of two quadrangles. Unfortunately relatively little has been recovered from documentary sources to elaborate out understanding of the character of the complex. In the early 14th century reference is made to the refectory and chambers of the hospital. There was a chamber in the hospital called ‘le Sexterye’ at the west end with a garden leased out in 1416. In 1423 there was property leased out which lay on the east side of the gate of the hospital, comprising a ground floor chamber, a chamber above and a chamber over the gate with a chamber called ‘le Garrit’. An inventory of the goods and furniture of the Hospital was made in 1449. In 1669 the Chapel roof was stripped, and not replaced until 1690. Before its restoration in 1744 the chapel was 120 ft by 22 ft with an aisle and a broad tower on the north east side, with the offices and the rooms of the priest set around two quads. The Old Hall had been removed some 50 years before Bridges described it c.1720, and before 1744 when it was restored by J Welchman, and religious services reinstated for the benefit of the town, the chapel was in a ruinous state with the glass and tombstones removed. Magdalen College did still keep up the chapel after 1734. It was described in 1720 as 120 foot long and 22 wide, with one aisle with a low broad tower. The west front of the Hospital chapel was depicted by Tillemans in 1719. A small building for forge bellows was erected on the School property in 1781 by the clockmaker in Brackley. The school was removed to newer buildings to the south in 1878. All the medieval monuments had completely gone from the chapel by the early 19th century. The chapel itself was altered in 1810 and restored and buttressed in 1850 but by 1870 it was again disused when it was re-fitted as a school chapel. The building as it survived in the 19th century is described in detail by Baker. At that time all that remained of the former ranges of buildings around the two courts were ‘a few detached traces of arches in the house and back garden south of the chapel’. The building which survives today includes work of the 13th and 14th century, but with an impressive Norman west door and a Norman font, but the whole structure has been much altered by the Victorian and earlier restorations. On the southern side are the blocked arches and various other structural evidence of the aisles and chapels which have been demolished. The only archaeological evidence from the site is the reported discovery during the early Victorian restoration of two stone coffins 'within the walls', one of which was said to have been of a priest.
College chapel, High Street/Hospital of St John and St James and St John. College Chapel is owned by Magdalen College School and utilised the chapel of the former St James and St Johns Hospital. The building was heavily restored in the 19th-century and is still in use today. Part remaining of the hospital in the late 19th century was adapted for use as a chapel for the Magdalen College School. This was through an arrangement made by the Vicar of Brackley and the President and Scholars of Magdalen College, Oxford.
In the 18th century the former St. John’s Hospital was converted into a free school of Magdalen College, which still at that time kept up the chapel ‘by barely preserving the Roof and Walles, it being stript of its Decorations, the glass taken out of the windows, the seating gone, and the tombs ruinous , and made a Lumber Room, tis about 120ft in length and has only one isle with a low broad Tower on the north west side coped at top in which was a pretty large Bell, but it was taken down about 20 years ago and carried to Oxford for Magdalen College use.’ By the mid 13th century about 80 properties in the town are listed in a survey of Hospitals lands and by 1830 Magdelene College which then held the former Hospital estates was the largest landowner in Brackley with 805 acres, in addition to the large area of old inclosures to the east of the Chapel.
A large proportion of the properties derived from successive lords of the manor but various other individuals also made grants to the Hospitals. Many of these people were later buried there judging by the tombs Leland describes as being in the presbytery. ‘There ly buryed in tumbes dyvers noble men and women in the presbitery of this churche: first 2 noble men in one tombe havynge in theyr shelds a lyon rampant and flures de luce. There lyeth on the south syde in the wall a noble man havyng in a feld of gules 10 besants of gold. And at his feet lyethe anothar havynge in his sheld a lion rampant. There lyethe also Robert Holand that dyef in anno dni 1373. Maud his wyfe lyethe there also. There lyethe a noble man and his wyfe. He berithe in his shild varre gold and gules’ . In contrast Leland saw ‘no tumbe or great antiquiti’ in the parish church of St.Peter.

{12} Description of Romanesque features in church including west doorway, nave and font. The dogtooth ornament on the font points to a date c 1190-1210. The west doorway is by a different workshop active around the same time or perhaps slightly earlier.

{14} Sketch and measurements;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 1+2/37 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), H17 p.4 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Serjeantson R.M.; Ryland W. (Editors), 1906, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.151 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100369.

<4> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.116-17 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<5> Steane J., 1974, The Northamptonshire Landscape, p.153 (unchecked) (Book). SNN5137.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP53NE9 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<7> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.582-84 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<8> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.151-52 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<9> Knowles; Hadcock, 1971, Medieval Religious Houses England and Wales, p.251 (unchecked) (Book). SNN10192.

<10> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, Section 3.3.2 Hospital of St John (Digital archive). SNN100499.

<11> Glynne S., 1859, Church Notes of Sir Stephen Glynne, 41 p.77-9 (unchecked) (Manuscript). SNN39492.

<12> King's College, London, 2017, A corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, Site 1159 (Website). SNN110894.

<13> Historic England, Undated, St James' and St John's Hospital Chapel, Brackley, BF107250 (Archive). SNN113977.

<14> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/36/17 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Aug 7 2024 11:16AM