The Maidstone Fraternity (Guild) of Corpus Christi was founded around 1324 by several inhabitants of the town.
In 1422, John Hyssenden ‘a noble and venerable man’ gifted the brotherhood a collection of buildings at the bottom of Earl Street. These included a refectory, a chapel, three cloisters and the Hall, which would have been a centre of business in medieval Maidstone. Within 20 years, Henry VI granted the Guild a Charter of Incorporation which allowed them to own property.
By 1474, there were 124 members of the Guild, of whom about 20 were women. Members included nobility, gentry and clergy of the neighbourhood, as well as the Lord Mayor of London. All members paid an annual sum, for the most part 1s 6d or 2s each, although those of higher rank contributed up to 6s 8d.
Together with gifts and legacies, and an estate of lands and houses, the Guild looked after its members in old age and in times of sickness. It was also able to maintain a chapel in All Saints Church, along with a priest to pray for the souls of its members.
Like many other religious orders of the time, the Corpus Christi Guild was dissolved in 1547.
In 1549, the town wanted to purchase the buildings for use as a grammar school, but the Crown’s asking price of £200 was an impossible sum to raise. However, Lord Protector Somerset gave controversial permission for the town to sell off the church plate, vestments and other treasures from All Saints Church. This sacrilegious act generated sufficient funds to establish the new school, which then remained on this site for over 320 years.
The school’s first Master, Thomas Cole, caused further controversy by arguing that children were not born in original sin – a claim which outraged the Establishment.
When the grammar school moved to Tonbridge Road in 1871, the Corpus Christi Hall was sold to Fremlins Brewery who used it as a cooperage for many years. During the 1930’s it played host to the Fremlins Cricket Club for net practice, and also hosted concerts and plays put on by brewery staff.
The Hall underwent extensive restoration in the 1970’s as part of a £40,000 project to convert it to a staff restaurant.
Following more recent refurbishment, it is now open to the public and is a wonderful atmospheric location of the La Taberna, a Spanish restaurant.
The Guild of Corpus Christi
This was a non-monastic religious guild of men and women, similar to a modern friendly society. Members followed the rules of St Benedict in many particulars and ministered to the needs of their community, including dispensing food and drink to wayfarers through the dole window (still visible in the East wall of the Hall).
A grand feast
Corpus Christi is a moveable feast and the Guild would have celebrated it on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (around late May to early June). Their accounts from 1474 show just how lavish the celebrations could be…
15 cooks were employed to prepare:
- 128 geese
- 52 chickens
- 43 pairs of pigeons
- 12 pigs
- 10 gallons of milk
- 3 quarts of honey
- Bread, spices and more besides
to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
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