“The Mayor’s Chapel” (1878) from “The Graphic”

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The Mayor’s Chapel

“Bristol Illustrated” in The Graphic of 14 September 1878, p. 77

Source: Internet Archive web version of a copy of The Graphic in the University of Illinois Library

“St. Mark’s Church, or the Mayor's Chapel, in College Green, is embedded among houses; but will attract notice by its large western window, filled with tracery of a mixed style of Decorated and Perpendicular. It was originally the chapel of the Hospital of Bonhommes, of which Order there were two other houses in Englnnd.” (continued below)

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Commentary from The Graphic

St. Mark's Hospital was founded by Robert de Berkeley, the second Lord of Berkeley, anil finished by Maurice de Gaunt, his son, who died in 1230. The house was placed under the control of the Canons of St. Augustine's Monastery, and was ordained for the maintenance of a chaplain and the daily relief of one hundred poor; but twelve scholars were afterwards admitted on the foundation. These wore a red shield on their habit during the year of probation, to which a while cross wn# afterwards added. The house was dissolved in 1534, and in 1540 the estate was granted from the Crown to the Mayor anti Burgesses of Bristol for public uses. The chapel has undergone much renovation, particularly in its interior arrangements. It is undivided by pillars, and but for its ecclesiastical fittings would present the effect of a long and lofty Gothic hull. But the interior view is very impressive. The panelled and gilded oak roof, rich fretwork stalls of dark oak, carved tabernacle work, the canopied altar tombs with their sculptured effigies, and the sombre illumination derived from the traceried windows, glowing with imagery of saints and martyrs, fill the mind with n kind of aesthetic awe of even more intense character thnn usually belong# to a medieval church. [67]

Bibliography

“Bristol Illustrated.” The Graphic (20 July 1878): 60-77. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the University of Illinois Library. Web. 16 August 2018.

Last modified 16 August 2018