Monument record 1160/23 - Chapel of St Mary Magdalene

The chapel, then a hospital, was mentioned at the time of the foundation of St John's hospital c. 1138 and had been granted to the hospital by 1154. Dissolved by 1154. Pipeline development in the 1970s uncovered the foundations of a small stone building that may be the remains of the chapel.

{1}Lay on south side of Marefair; chapel & then hospital mentioned at time of foundation of St John's hospital circa 1138; granted to St John's by 1154 & probably earlier; dissolved by 1568 & subsequent history & location traced in later rentals; chapel was adjacent to Northampton's first Guildhall;
described as situated on S side of Marefair SP75146039;

{3}Dissolved by 1568;

{4}Granted to St John's hospital by 1154 & probably earlier;

{5}Chapel & then hospital mentioned at time of foundation of St John's hospital circa 1138;

{6}History & location subsequent to Dissolution can be traced;

{7}Reconstructed site plan of 1504 of St Gregory's Church also shows Chapel of St Mary Magdalene with graveyard boundary & charnel house;

{8}The St Mary Magdalen Chapel was placed on the site of St Gregory's Churchyard by comparing 19th century rentals with 16th century Gold Street documents (the chapel belonged to St John's Hospital charity). This overlooked another 999 year lease of another property at the east end of Gold Street.

{9} There are four references to the Chapel of St Mary Magdalen in the 16th century. The ealiest of these is amongst a few surviving leases of St Johns Hospital in the Northamptonshire Record Office dated 1539, which refers to an indenture of 1537 leasing a tenement in the west quarter and a tenement called Ardern House, together with a garden and close in Salcey Forest.

On the available evidence it seems likely that the site of the Chapel of St Mary Magdalen was on the north side of Gold Street, between College Street and The Drapery. That it was on Gold Street is confirmed by St John's Hospital documents in the 16th century. That it was located at the east end of Gold Street has been demonstrated on two counts: by the indirect information in the Town Rental of 1503-4, and by inference that the fragment of Hospital land there disposed by George Wake in 1654 was part of a larger St John's holding.

{10} Pipeline development work uncovered the substantial foundations of a small building, approximately only a third of the building was excavated. The building may have been a church or chapel and had been placed at an important junction of the Saxon towns N-S and E-W trade routes.

The building lay under 1 metre of road surface with approx 0.75m of walling visible. The walling found consisted of a pair of walls running E-W and N-S with a further end wall. The walls were between 1.5m and 2.1m wide and mainly constructed of undressed rubble. Traces of internal plaster was noted along with squared rubble laid to courses on the external face of the N-S wall. This external face was well constructed and one stone at floor level projected outwards to form a plinth, the plinth may have supported blind arcading which was a popular external decoration of the period.

The internal junction of the E-W and S-W wall contained a splay above floor level, to the E of this splay sherds of 11th-12th century St Neot's type ware were recovered. The splay may have been a hagioscope (opening in a wall in order to view the altar) or door.

An internal wall had been constructed centrally against the internal face of the main N-S wall, an earth deposit found beneath the feature indicates that it was not contemporary with the original building walls. Interpretation suggests that it may have formed the altar.

Between the two walls was a floor consisting of thin earth on burnt sand, which contained no domestic refuse. A later deposit of brown earth overlaying this original surface contained glazed ware dating to the 14th or 15th centuries. 19th century levels were also detected. (Plan of the walls contained within article)

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.381 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<2> 1837, REPORT OF CHARITY COMMISSIONERS, 797+808 (Uncertain). SNN481.

<3> DEED, (unchecked) (Document). SNN496.

<4> Calendar of Patent Rolls (undated), 1401-5/368 (unchecked) (Document). SNN978.

<5> SERJEANTSON R.M., 1913, HOSPITAL DEDICATED TO ST JOHN THE BAPTIST AT NORTHAMPTON, (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN2226.

<6> NRO SC 590, (unchecked) (Document). SNN48805.

<7> Giggins B., 1990, Gregory Street, Northampton: a report on the development of St. Gregory's church and Northampton Free School, 6 (Report). SNN2054.

<8> WELSH T.C., 1998, NOTE, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN44457.

<9> Welsh T.C., 2000, Document Search: "The Land Of Gildhalle" Northampton's Earliest Guildhall?, p.7 (unchecked) (Document). SNN100410.

<10> Friendship-Taylor E., 1976, Northampton: Horseshoe Street (SP75166039), P13-14 (Article). SNN103968.

Record last edited

Dec 7 2021 1:16PM