Monument record 727/4/4 - Medieval Chantry Chapel

A chantry for two priests is recorded in Towcester in 1460.

{1} A chantry created for two priests in 1460 said to have been placed in the east end of the south aisle.

{2} (Ref 3.3.1)In 1447 William Sponne, archdeacon of Norfolk and rector of Towcester, expressed his intention of founding a chantry of two priests to celebrate divine service daily at the altar of St Mary in the church of St Laurence. On his deathbed he prayed that his executors should found this chantry with all speed. The chantry was to be known as Sponne’s Chantry and by 1451the foundation had been effected. According to Bridges, the chapel belonging to the chantry was at the upper end of the south aisle, and had originally been called the chapel of St Mary. In his day, the aisle still retained the name of ‘Sponne’s aisle’. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, however, it appears that the Virgin’s association with the chapel was still remembered. In 1498 a local townswoman asked to be buried in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the parish church. Other wills of this period included bequests to the altar of the Virgin, and to Our Lady’s light. In 1531 10 shillings was left to repair the window in the aisle of Our Lady. Two years later, William Synkyn bequeathed a two-year-old bullock to ‘Our Lady in the yle, to maintain her with’. Other altars and lights mentioned by testators in the early 16th century were those of St Anne, St Agnes, St Anthony, St Catherine, St Clement, St George and St Lawrence. Bequests were left to the sepulchre light and to the light of the rood or Holy Cross.
(Ref 3.4.3) William Sponne, archdeacon of Norfolk and rector of Towcester, left instructions in his will for the founding of a chantry chapel within the parish church of St Laurence. The chantry was established in 1451.
There was no mention of a school in the deeds of foundation but a century later the commissioners of Henry VIII reported that the College or Sponne’s Chantry had been founded to maintain two priests, ‘being men of good knowledge, one to preach the word of God and the other to keep a grammar school’. From 1451, therefore, there had been a schoolmaster, and almost half the revenues of the chantry had been provided for his stipend.

{3} No further information.

<1> Knowles; Hadcock, 1971, Medieval Religious Houses England and Wales, (unchecked) (Book). SNN10192.

<2> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Laughton J.; Steadman S.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Towcester, 3.3.1, 3.4.3 (unchecked) (Report). SNN103132.

<3> Baird, J., 1970, Field investigators comments, F1 JB 29-JAN-70 (Notes). SNN110341.

Record last edited

Aug 16 2023 4:24PM