Description

SP6948
13/159
01/08/76

TOWCESTER
WATLING STREET EAST
No.88 (The Chantry House) and attached forecourt walls and gateway
(Formerly listed as No.88 (The Chantry)and Forecourt Wall at No.88 (The Chantry House)

GII*
House.C15 with considerable C18 and C19 alterations.Coursed squared ironstone and limestone,slate roof,stone end stacks.Two-unit through-passage plan.Two-storey, Four-window range.C19 studded plank door to left of centre in moulded wood surround and late C18 pedimented wood doorcase.The door is recessed in front with remains of original jettied timber-framed first floor above.Three-light C19 wood mullion and transom windows to ground floor with stop-chamfered lintels.Projecting tower to left end,originally a stair-turret,with moulded stone coping.Three-and two-light C19 casement windows to first floor with stop-chamfered lintels.Stone-coped gables with kneelers.Attached forecourt walls of coursed squared ironstone and limestone with ridged ironstone coping.C15 gateway to middle of front wall has chamfered jambs and many-moulded arch with fourth-centred head.The wall is stepped up above gateway. Interior:two-bay ground floor hall has moulded cross-beam ceiling and Tudor-arched stone fireplace with chamfered jambs and many-moulded head.Stone relief incorporated in wall probably C17 with allegorical figure of Victory blowing a trumpet. Built as a house for the two priests serving Archdeacon Sponne's chantry(q.v.Church of St. Lawrence),suppressed at the Reformation.Bought back in 1552 by the trustees of Sponne's Charity for use as a grammar school.Served as school and master's house until 1866, when it became a house.(Buildings of England: Northamptonshire,p.435; A Towcester Trail (leaflet),1983, published by The Towcester Local History Society).

Listing NGR: SP6935648684

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17545292

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Period property manual, victorian house manual 2 books collection set by ian rock
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)