Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/52

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. xii. JULY is, im

even if one makes allowance for what " In this towne is but one chefe church. There is a chapel beside where was wont to be ' anachoretu in media urbe undo et aliquando inventa fiecunda. There is also a chapel of Our Lady on Calder bridge wont to be celebrated a peregrinis. Leland says of Wakefield that " it standith now al by clothyng"; and again, "Al the hole profile of the toune stondith by course drapery." Of the famous battle he writes: "There was a sore batell faught in the south feeldes by this bridge ; & y" the tlite of the Duke of Yorkesjparte, other the duke hymself or his sun therle of Rutheland was slayne a little above the barres, beyond the bridge going up into the toune of Wakefield that standeth full fairely upon a clyving ground."
 * 2 pens " formerly stood for.)

Dr. Walker says that in digging the founda- tions of Portobello House, between Sandal and Wakefield, bones, spurs, broken swords, &c., were found, which led to the conclusion that it must have been the scene of the battle of the Roses.

It has been erroneously thought by some that the chantry on the bridge dates from Edward IV.'s reign, and that it was built then in commemoration of those who fell in the battle of Wakefield ; but Thomas Allen, among other authorities, gives the lie to this by proving that it was the splendid generosity of the townsmen in Edward III.'s reign that caused its erection ; and Leland, who used to go to the chantry while celebra- tions still were held there, says it was built "of the fundation of the townesmen, as sum say, but the Dukes of York were taken as founders for obteyning the mortemayn."

There was, according to old records, always a ford over the river, but the date of the earliest wooden bridge is not known. In 1342, when the bridge was " rent and broken," the bailiffs undertook the rebuilding of it :

"Feb. 18, 1342. Edward III. granted to the bailiff's of the town of Wakefield tollage for three years on all goods for sale, and animals passing over the bridge, ' as a help towards the repairs and im- provements of the said bridge, which is now rent

and broken.' Three years later the bailiffs

compounded with the king for 40 wlidi, so as to have the right of toll over the bridge." Dr. Walker.

It was about then that the townsfolk came forward so liberally to erect the chantry. Leland says :

"I especially notid in Wakefeld the faire

bridge of stone, of nine arches, under which rennith the ryver of Calder. And on the est side of this bridge is a right goodly chapel of our Lady two cantuarie prestes foundid in it of the fundation of the townesmen, as sum say."

It appears from old accounts that the two " cantuarie prestes " lived in a little house on

the Wakefield side of the river, near the chantry, which was pulled down in 1840.

From late in the fourteenth century there is mention of donations and estates beingleft to the chantry that masses should be said for the repose of the testator's soul and for others named. Dr. Walker gives a quotation from an old record which shows that by "decree of Archbishop John Kempe, on Nov. 20, 1444, the chapel was wholly built of costly stone- work by inhabitants and community of Wakefield." But he adds that it is probable that the completion of the chapel may have been delayed on account of the devastations of the Black Death, which in 1349 carried off about one-half of the inhabitants.

Allen mentions a "bridge with eight arches " as having been built in Edward III.'s reign, and says that the "chapel was ten yards in length, and eight in breadth, and that the east window was filled with beautiful tracery." He adds :

"The west front exceeds it in richness of orna- ment. It has crocketed pediments and pointed arches, having spandrils enriched with crockets. The chapel was built by Edward IV. in memory of his father Richard, Duke of York, and those of his party who fell at Wakefield."

It appears, however, that a " chantry chapel was built on this bridge as early as the reign of Edward III., and dedicated to St. Mary." Sir Robert Knolles was chiefly instrumental in this, according to one of the authorities before mentioned. In the fifteenth century the sanctuary was raised one step above the level of the floor. Beneath the window was a stone altar marked with five crosses.

"At each side of the chantry were three square- headed windows, with labels suspended from the cornice above, reaching half way down the window, terminating in carved heads. These windows

were of three lights with beautiful tracery.

At the east end was at a higher level a

small two-light ' high-side ' window. Dr. Walker.

Chambers says that these chantries almost invariably have the founder's tomb placed in the midst, before the altar. He gives as the derivation of the word "chantry" the French "chanterie," from "chanter," to sing; for these chantries were built in order that in them masses might daily be chanted for the testator's soul and for those others named in his will the bequest, of course, in part going towards the maintenance of the chantry priests. Besides this object, how- ever, there were others, such as, in time of plague, the using of the building for the sick and "those attending to them," that they might go there and not infect the parish church.

To this chantry came the merchant on the