66 "Streete, otherwise call'd Whitewaye, in the Town of Basingstoke aforesaid, now or lately in the Tenure or Occu"pation of Simon White, and to the said Fraternity for"merly belonging and appertaining. And all that our Barn "call'd The Hollie Goste Barne in Basingstoke aforesaid, "and one hundred Acres of Arable Land of ours lying in "the Common Fields of the said Town of Basingstoke; and "one small Close of Land and Pasture of ours, containing "by Estimation two Acres in Basingstoke aforesaid, with "all and singular their Appurtenances, now or lately in the "Tenure or Occupation of Richard Marsam, and to the "said late Fraternity some Time belonging and appertain"ing. And the Reversion, and Reversions whatsoever, of "all and singular the Premisses above, by these Presents, “granted, and of every Part and Parcel thereof, &c. &c. The estate thus granted, was considered as not given to superstitious uses, and therefore remained untouched in the following reigns. But in the time of the Ci-" vil War, this estate was again alienated, and the Chapel and School shut up for many years, till in 1670, by the care of Bishop Morley of Winchester, the estate was restored to it again. The following Inscription in the Chapel School on the Western wall, and which still remains, refers to the fircumstance. An. Dom. 1670. Georgio Reverendiss. D. D. Georg. Morlaus Winton Ep. Liberalium Artium Egreg. Fautor, hac Schola reclusa per multos annos, tandem aperta, alienatis que diu Redditibus, pie restitutis, sibi æternam meritus est de posteritate Laudem. Mr. Carter considers the School House as of much older date than the Chapel, and as having once been the body of a church, to which it might be attached. The Eastern end, however, is probably more modern than the other part, being of brick, while the Western end is of flint. Above the door is the date 1652, which probably refers to the year when that more modern part of the building was erected. Since its first endowment Holy Ghost. Chapel has had several Benefactors, the most considerable of whom were Sir James Deane, Knt.* who died about 1608; and Sir James Lancaster, Knt.† who died in 1617. The fraternity of this chapel became gradually extinct. It is conjectured, that as the persons of whom the Guild consisted, in Queen Mary's reign were Papists, there were no new members admitted after her death: for the fraternity seems to have been extinct before the reign of Queen Elizabeth, or at farthest in the beginning of the reign of James I. In the reign of George II., a petition was presented to his Majesty in Council, wherein the petitioners prayed to be made Trustees and Patrons of Holy Ghost Chapel, and the School therein * Sir James Deane founded and endowed the Alms-Houses, near the great Elm Tree, for eight poor persons, and left several Annuities for charitable uses to his native Town of Basingstoke. Sir James Lancaster, an eminent navigator in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James the First, was born at Basingstoke, where also he was buried, having bequeathed several legacies to his native place. He was one of the earliest traders to the East Indies, and gave his own name to a sound in Baffin's Bay. kept: but as no new charter or grant was at that timema, things remain still upon the same footing as they did by virtue of the letters patent granted in the reign of Philip and Mary. The patronage or right of nominating the Presbyter to perform divine service, &c. in the Holy Ghost Chapel, has been a matter of legal enquiry. It has been made a question whether it did not belong to the Crown, even when the Brotherhood or Guild of the Holy Ghost existed; there being no express words in the charter, or letters patent, granted Anno 3 and 4 Philip and Mary, whereby a right of nomination is conveyed to them. However, as the officers of the Guild did let the estate, and received the rents for the use of their Chaplain, so it is not unlikely but that they might appoint him, when a vacancy happened. But when this Guild was extinct, the Crown took the patronage of the Chapel into its own hands, and it is now presented to, by the Lord Chancellor, or Lord-Keeper of the Great Seal. Some descendents of the Founder thought themselves to have a property in the Chapel built by Lord Sandes: But all right and property of that Family in the Chapel and Estate belonging to it, was taken away by Stat. 1. Edw. VI. cap. 14. It was principally with the view of illustrating this matter, that the Rev. Samuel Loggon published his Pamphlet in 1742, and dedicated it to the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. It contains several extracts from Charters, Acts of Parliament, and Wills relative to the question. It was probably from having written this Pamphlet that Mr. Loggon was afterwards presented by the Lord Chancellor to the Mastership of the School. * The outside of this Chapel was of free stone, curiously ornamented, being most elegantly finished in the style of the florid Gothic: and the inside was no less beautiful. Camden, in his Britannia, informs us, that "upon the roof of it, the history of the Prophets, Apostles, and Disciples of Christ, was very artificially described." Some of the rich ornaments, formerly belonging to it, are still preserved at Mottisfont House, in Hampshire, the seat of Sir Charles Mill, Bart. a descendent of the Sandes or Sandys' family. They have been kept with great care in a cedar chest, and consist of the following articles of exquisite workmanship and beauty, which are presumed to bè, 1. The Altar Piece, or Covering, of purple velvet, nine feet long, and seven feet wide; on which are embroidered the following figures in gold and silver;Our Saviour with the twelve apostles, who is leaning over one of them, and giving Judas a piece of bread, who is opening his mouth to receive it: the traytor appears holding in his hand between his knees a purse containing the wages of his iniquity: the paschal lamb in a silver dish-very many cherubs, and chalices or cups;- two lamps on the upper corners appear to hang over the table. Mr. Loggon had made large collections for a History of Hampshire, died about 1778, and was buried at Turgis, of which parish he had been the incumbent. Can any of our readers give any information what became of his collections at his death,? .. The Pulpit-Cloth, of purple velvet; six feet six inches wide, and four feet long; embroidered with gold and silver in various devices, as branches, shells, cherubs, &c. &c. in the middle are the arms of the Sandys' family, with the French motto, AIDE DIEU, (Help, God,) and the date 1633. Underneath Christ appears nailed to the cross, attended by two angels with cups. in their hands. In the back ground is one seated, whether designed to represent Pilate on the judgment seat, or any other officer who presided at the awful scene, is not known; two women, perhaps the mother of Christ, and his mother's sister, or the two Marysalso two men, one of whom may be St. John various tassels in gold and silver wire, with purpie silk fringe, all curiously wrought. 3. A piece of purple velvet, four feet three inches long, and one foot nine inches wide, with the initials, I. H. S. 4. 5. Three small ditto. Hanging of the Desk;- purple velvet, turned to a lilac colour, wrought with gold and silver, with the family arms of the Sandys in the middle. 6. Two book-holders or cushions, wrought as the others, with the arms on the inside, and on the outside the letters I. H. S. and cherubs at each of the four corners. These cushions fold in the middle, probably they may have been book-covers. * * For the above particular account of the articles preserved at Mottisfont House, the reader is indebted to the kindness of Mr. Thomas King, of Eling, steward to the Mottisfont estate, who very obligingly complied with a request to furnish a description of such curious ornaments. |