Introduction
St Mark's Church is an ancient church on the north-east side of College Green, in central Bristol built c. 1230. Better known to medieval and Tudor historians as the Gaunt's Chapel, it has also been known within Bristol since 1722 as the Lord Mayor's Chapel. It is one of only two churches in England privately owned and used for worship by a city corporation. The other is St Lawrence Jewry, London. It stands opposite St Augustine's Abbey (after 1542 Bristol Cathedral), founded by a member of the Berkeley family of nearby Berkeley Castle, from which it was originally separated by the Abbey's burial ground, now called College Green. It was built as the chapel to the adjacent Gaunt's Hospital, now demolished, founded in 1220. Except for the west front, the church has been enclosed by later adjacent buildings, although the tower is still visible. The church contains some fine late gothic features and a collection of continental stained glass. It is designated by Historic England as a grade I listed building.
Foundation
In 1220 Maurice de Gaunt, a grandson of Robert Fitzharding, first feudal baron of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, founded a hospital, that is to say a medieval charitable residential institution, next to his grandfather's foundation of St Augustine's Abbey, to provide relief for the sick and poor. It was to be called the "Hospital of St Mark of Billeswyke-by-Bristol" and was housed in the Abbey's almonry. On Maurice's death in 1230, his nephew Robert de Gournay added to its endowment, made it independent of the Abbey and placed it under the control of Maurice's brother Henry de Gaunt. It became known informally as St Mark's Hospital or Gaunt's Hospital. The church for the use of the inmates of the hospital was built around 1230, and is the only part of the buildings extant today.
Notable burials
The church contains several chest tombs. Two of these, in the south aisle chapel, are of knights which may be the church's founders, Maurice de Gaunt and Robert de Gournay. There are more for other members of the Berkeley family, to which the founders were related. The chest tomb with effigy of Miles Salley, Bishop of Llandaff from 1500, is in the chancel, to the south side of the altar. Many other members of the Berkeley family are buried in St Augustine's Abbey, now Bristol Cathedral.
City corporation ownership
Following the dissolution of the monasteries,in 1539 Sir Edward Carne, who had acquired Ewenny Priory, Glamorgan, which he turned into his private residence, obtained the lease of Gaunt's Hospital, and acted as its treasurer, receiving its income from the many ancient bequests of lands and rents made to it. He was due to go abroad to help in arranging the ill-fated marriage of Anne of Cleves to King Henry VIII, and the revenue from the hospital was directed in the meantime to the support of his wife, Anne Denys, a daughter of Sir William Denys of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, by the Berkeley family. Bristol Corporation objected, and in 1540 the church was purchased by Bristol Corporation. The church became the official church of the Mayor and the Corporation of Bristol in 1722.
Architecture
The nave was built around 1230, and the south aisle around 1270. These parts are in the early decorated gothic style, while the rest of the church is of the later perdendicular style. The tower, constructed over the east end, was completed in 1487. The chancel, south aisle chapel and reredos are the result of rebuilding by Miles Salley, Bishop of Llandaff, in about 1500. The nave's roof and another side chapel are early 16th century. The west front, with its goemetric 12-petalled rose windown, was a 15th-century design but was rebuilt in about 1830. In 1889 John Loughborough Pearson created a new west entrance, in the gothic style.
Another fine addition, to the east end of the south aisle, beyond the tower, is the "Chapel of Jesus" or "Poyntz Chapel", built c.1523 as a chantry chapel by Sir Robert Poyntz of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, a noted supporter of King Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. It should be distinguished from the Poyntz Chapel in Iron Acton Church, the family's chapel as lords of the manor. It is fan-vaulted, and has two niches of unknown use on the North wall. The floor is covered with coloured Spanish tiles, probably from Seville and contemporaneous with the building.
The cache
To find the cache you just need to look at the doors!
A = number of hinges on both doors
B = number of keyholes on both doors
C = number of door knockers on both doors
D = number of planks of wood making up one door
Answer checksum = 15
N51 2 (D). (A - B) (D - C) (D-C) W002 3 (A + C). (B / C) (A x B) (D + C)
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here
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http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html