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OVERVIEW | HISTORY | MASS
In the early 14th century
the chapel was enlarged to become a Chantry Chapel and in 1349 Edward III
granted a licence for six chaplains to pray for the souls of himself, Sir
John de Stonore, their predecessors and successors. This was the time of
the Black Death and when the theory of souls going first to purgatory was
propagated.
In the late 16th century, Dame Cecily
Stonor and her son, John gave refuge to Edmund Campion and his companions.
They printed Decem Rationes in the roof and soon after were captured,
hung, drawn and quartered. He was canonised in 1970. Dame Cecily, and
her successors, refused to give up her faith in spite of imprisonment
and continued to have chaplains to celebrate Mass. Only in the 18th Century
were the vicious penal laws slowly relaxed and in the 1790’s it
was possible to repair and redecorate the Chapel in the current gothic
revival style when the present windows were installed.
“Stonors have lived at the spot for eight and a half centuries defying
Reformation and revolution. Mass has always been celebrated in the place”
- Simon Jenkins, England's Thousand Best Houses
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