St Mark's Church, Bristol

St Mark's Church is an ancient church on the north-east side of College Green, Bristol, England, built c. 1230. Better known to mediaeval and Tudor historians as the Gaunt's Chapel, it has also been known within Bristol since 1722 as the Lord Mayor's Chapel. It is one of only two churches in England privately owned and used for worship by a city corporation. The other is St Lawrence Jewry, London. It stands opposite Bristol Cathedral, before 1542 St Augustine's Abbey, founded by a member of the Berkeley family. It was built as the chapel to the adjacent Gaunt's Hospital, now demolished, founded in 1220. Except for the west front, the church has been enclosed by later adjacent buildings, although the tower is still visible. The church contains some fine late gothic features and a collection of continental stained glass. It is designated by Historic England as a grade I listed building.

In 1220 Maurice de Gaunt (d.1230), a grandson of Robert Fitzharding (d.1170), first feudal baron of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, founded a hospital, that is to say a mediaeval charitable residential institution, next to his grandfather's foundation of St Augustine's Abbey, to provide relief for the sick and poor. It was to be called the "Hospital of St Mark of Billeswyke-by-Bristol" and was housed in the Abbey's almonry. On Maurice’s death in 1230, his nephew Robert de Gournay added to its endowment, made it independent of the Abbey and placed it under the control of Maurice's brother Henry de Gaunt. It became known informally as St Mark's Hospital or Gaunt's Hospital. The church for the use of the inmates of the hospital was built around 1230, and is the only part of the buildings extant today.

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