The Clopton Chapel

Stratfordian Hugh Clopton became Lord Mayor of London and was a great benefactor to the town. He completely rebuilt the Chapel of the Guild of the Holy Cross and provided the stone bridge over the Avon which carries his name, and the traffic, to this day. He had a magnificent altar-tomb built in the then Lady Chapel but was, in fact, buried in London. After the reformation his descendants claimed the chapel as their own and it now contains the finest renaissance tomb in all England, that of George Carew (died 1629) and his wife Joyce Clopton. Carew was James I's Master in Ordnance, hence the canon on the tomb.

The Clopton Chapel was recently professionally cleaned, revealing the beauty of the alabaster tombs with their painted decoration. The PCC and congregation of Holy Trinity Church are very grateful to the Friends of Shakespeare's Church and Stratford Town Trust, thanks to whose help this was accomplished.