Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Brenchley Chantry Chapel was built in 1447 between the butresses in the fouth bay west of the crossing. In 1787, however, when the nave was re-floored the chantry chapel was removed and the door sealed up.

Monument Types

• CHANTRY CHAPEL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1447 AD to 1787 AD)

Full description

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The Brenchley Chantry Chapel (Later the Neville Chapel) was built in 1447 between the butresses in the fourth bay west of the crossing.

The chapel was founded by the executors of Sir William Brenchley (Justice of the Common Pleas) in 1447 as a chantry chapel for himself and his widow Joan, and it was dedicated to Syt. John the Baptist. The chapel was designed by Richard Beke, the Priory Master Mason and it had windows in its south wall and a shallow-pitched leaded roof with a parapet and finials at the southern corners. The altar against the east wall had painted or sculpted figues above it and there was probably a cornice and a shallow vault or panelled ceiling. The Brenchley Grave, however, was situated in the nave space near the south arcade, and not in the chapel. Dame Brenchley died in 1453 and was buried with her husband.

In 1598, Dean Neville, former chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I, took over the Brenchley Chapel, which by then had fallen into disuse, and set up monuments for his family the next year. In 1787, however, when the nave was re-floored the chantry chapel was removed and the door sealed up. Now a later monument covers and coceals the former entrance.

Collinson, P., Ramsey, N. & Sparks, M., 1995, A History of Canterbury Cathedral (Monograph). SKE30201.

Blockley, K., Sparks, M. & Tatton-Brown, T., 1997, Canterbury Cathedral Nave, Archaeology, History and Architecture (Monograph). SKE29723.

Sources and further reading