CHRISTCHURCH 

The Priory

The Salisbury Chantry

The Salisbury Chantry was built for the Countess of Salisbury in 1529, in brilliant white Caen stone, to a design by the Florentine sculptor, Pietro Torrigiano.  It was her intention that she and her son, Reginald Pole, should be buried there.  However, Reginald went to Rome to study to be a priest and while there railed against Henry VIII for his proposed breach with the Pope.  Since the king was unable to get his hands on the son, he promptly prosecuted the 69-year-old mother for treason although she had once been a favourite of his and he had given her the manor of Christchurch.  It maybe that he considered her a further threat because, through her father, she had a direct claim to the throne, as the last of the Plantagenets.  She and the rest of her family were executed (1541) and she was buried in London.  Her son fared much better under Queen Mary and became Archbishop of Canterbury, where he was eventually buried.  Therefore, the chantry was not used.  Henry VIII ordered that the 'arms, badges and inscriptions' should be defaced in the chantry and although this was done, nothing else was  damaged.