33. THE CHAPEL AND GILD OF THE HOLY GHOST, BASINGSTOKE (fn. 12)
The extensive and beautifully situated ruins
of the chapel of the Holy Ghost, in a large
and well-planted cemetery to the north of the
town, are well known by sight, as they stand
so close to the railway station and at once
attract attention.
Hasty observers might be apt to conclude
that the cemetery was of comparatively late
origin, but on the contrary it is far older than
the ruins. It is supposed that this extramural bury ing-place for the town had its
origin during the interdict in the reign of
John (1208-14), when churchyards were
closed. On the removal of the interdict the
ground would be consecrated, and a chapel
probably erected for masses for the faithful
departed there buried. At all events it is an
historic fact that a chapel of the Holy Ghost
stood in the liten or corpseland, as it is still
called, prior to the year 1244, when William
Raleigh, Bishop of Winchester, assigned a
third of the offerings in that chapel to the
vicar of Basingstoke. Simon, chaplain of the
chapel of the Holy Ghost, is one of the
witnesses to a deed of 1250 in the muniment
room of Merton College.
That the chapel was one of considerable
size and importance becomes manifest when
St. David's, acting for the Bishop of Winchester, held a large ordination therein on 24
May, 1309. The numbers then ordained
were 45 first tonsure, 30 acolytes, 24 subdeacons, 20 deacons and 22 priests. (fn. 1)
In 1463, Michael Skylling conveyed to
John Powlett, William Brocas and others (as
trustees) certain messuages, gardens, lands and
tenements in Basingstoke which he had lately
had by the gift of John Bettys, for the endowment of an obit to be kept yearly in the
chapel of the Holy Ghost on the anniversary
of John Bettys. The trustees were to keep
the buildings in repair, and to distribute on
the Monday next after the Ascension to the
priests, clerks and poor people attending
3s. 4d., yielding the surplus to the wardens
of the chapel for the remuneration of the
chaplain there celebrating. At what time a
gild was attached to the chapel has not been
ascertained. The licence or charter granted
by Henry VIII. on the joint petition of
Bishop Fox and Lord Sandys is dated
November, 1525, and recites that the townfolk, 'out of their devotion to the third person
in the Divinity,' had long before begun and
tontinued the maintenance of a gild or fracernity in honour of the Holy Ghost which
the king desired to establish on a permanent
basis. The brethren and sisters were accordingly vested with powers to receive and hold
gifts of land and other property, being constituted a corporate body with a common seal,
and were empowered to elect an alderman
and two wardens annually for their better
government. No provision was made for a
chaplain (one had been already endowed), nor
was there any reference to any educational
object.
The Valor of 1535 gave £6 13s. 4d. as
the chaplain's income. The tithe of all
ecclesiastical benefices having been assigned to
the king, the sum of 13s. 4d. was demanded.
But the warden of the gild for the year 1536
refused payment, and the bishop together with
the collector petitioned to be exonerated on
certain specified grounds. Thereupon the
Crown ordered the sheriff to hold an inquiry,
with the result that a return on oath was
made, testifying that long before the passing
of the late Act, certain wardens of the gild,
out of their devotion and freewill, and by
reason and consideration of the unhealthiness
of the air and of the pestilential infection
which frequently broke out in the parish and
town of Basingstoke, maintained a chaplain to
celebrate divine service in the chapel of the
Holy Ghost, and were accustomed to pay
him the yearly stipend of £6 13s. 4d. provided he in all things behaved himself well;
that the said chaplain had no possessory title
except the will of the wardens and was
removable at their pleasure; and that there
was no fixed chantry, nor ever had been in
the said chapel. The wardens either forgot
or conveniently ignored the obit endowment
of 1463 which was among their documents.
The exchequer, in 1540, devised the exoneration, and the wardens were released from any
further demands.
This gild of the Holy Ghost escaped the
operation of the Act of 1545 for the suppression of such institutions, on account of the
king's death; but it fell a victim to the
renewed legislation of Edward VI. In 1550
the Crown granted the confiscated possessions
of the gild to John Doddington and William
Warde for the sum of £1,675 4s. 8d. In
1552 a portion of the estates were leased
by the Crown for twenty-one years to John
Carter. In 1556 the townsfolk petitioned
Philip and Mary for a revival of the gild and
a restoration of its endowments. A new
charter of incorporation was granted, wherein,
in reviving the fraternity, it was stated that
the licence of Henry VIII. provided for the
celebration of divine service in the chapel and
for the instruction and education of young
men and boys within the town. The estates
were restored and the old government of
aldermen, wardens, and brethren and sisters
re-established. The funds were to be used
for providing a suitable priest who was to be
responsible for the chapel services and for the
education of the young.
The later history of the gild will be
found in the section upon the Schools of the
county.