You are in the Stafford Chantry Chapel. A chantry was a sum of money given to a church to pay for a priest to sing – or chant - masses for the soul of someone who had died, to make sure they went to heaven. A big gift could also pay for a special chapel for the priest, and we think that St John’s had up to five priests at one time. This chapel was commissioned by Alienora Stafford, wife of the unfortunate Sir Humphrey Stafford, who died at the battle of Blackheath in 1450, during Jack Cade’s Rebellion. That’s him, lying next to the outer wall in his jousting armour, with Alienora beside him.

Unfortunately, Humphrey’s nephew then backed the wrong king, Richard III, and lost the family home at Grafton Manor, just south of town, in 1485. Sir Gilbert Talbot backed the right king and got the house and the chantry chapel instead. That’s his grandson next to the Staffords – Sir John Talbot, with his first and second wives. Sir John’s mother, Elizabeth, rests under her own alabaster monument in the northeast corner of the chancel but his two daughters had to make do with bronze plaques fixed to the nearby wall. Talbot girls didn’t get nearly such fancy tombs!

There’s a lot more to see here. That wide stone arch we saw from the chancel, for instance: that’s another chantry chapel. It would have had wooden screens along both sides, a little altar at the east end and a prayer stool. The panelled ceiling is the only stone vaulting in the church. Look carefully and you might be able to find three Green Men hiding in the carvings, with foliage curving out of their mouths.

Back in the main chapel, look up at the top of the east wall. The line of carving with curved ends is the only reminder of a fine medieval roof similar to the nave roof. Unfortunately, it fell into decay and was sold for firewood in the 19th century! But look closer. Can you find one more Green Man?

The chantry chapel also has some of the oldest furniture in the church. The Tudor communion table is typical of those introduced when stone altars were banned, after Henry VIII split England away from the Catholic Church in 1534. The lectern with its Bible storage box is also early 17th century; and the wooden panelling behind the altar and against the north wall have been recycled from the last remnants of the 18th century box pews that once covered the entire floor of the church.

Let’s explore this side of the church further.