Rotherwas Chapel

Rotherwas Chapel is a former Roman Catholic chapel of the Bodenham family, originating in the late 16th century with earlier roots. The tower dates probably to the 17th or 18th century. The building was enlarged and restored in 1868 by Edward Welby Pugin for Roger Bodenham, and has been restored since 1928 by HM Office of Works.

The chapel is constructed of sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings, beneath asbestos slate roofs with some tiles and shingles. It comprises a continuous three-bay nave with an apsidal 19th-century chancel, north vestry and confessional, two south chapels, and a west tower with west porch.

The west tower rises in three stages with a plain parapet punctuated by an obelisk to each corner. It is topped by a tiled pyramidical roof rising to an early 20th-century oak octagonal lantern with trefoil-headed openings, a shingled spire, and wrought iron cross. The top stage has a central pair of round-headed openings to each side. The middle stage of the west elevation displays a pair of trefoiled lights under a square head with incised spandrels. The ground floor features a chamfered segmentally headed west doorway masked by an early 20th-century oak timber-framed porch with trefoil-headed open panels, shingled roof with pierced quatrefoiled enriched gablet. The north and south elevations each have a clock face above two central loops, one to the middle stage and one to the bottom stage.

The north elevation of the nave has a pair of ogee-headed lights to the right-hand side and to the left a four-light window, possibly 14th century, each light of which is trefoil-headed and set under a hoodmould. The 19th-century vestry has a front stack with octagonal shaft, with a doorway of four-centred head next to a pair of lancets on its west side. The east side has a similar pair of lancets. In the angle of the vestry and chancel is a small carved head. Above the vestry in the chancel roof is a 19th-century opposed gablet containing a trefoil-headed light flanked by a pair of quatrefoils. The chancel has a trefoil-headed light to the north-east and south-east angles linked by a continuous hoodmould, and another trefoil-headed light to the south wall.

A wrought iron cross is positioned at the junction of the roof hips. The south elevation of the south-east chapel has three wide lancets in the gable front and a stack with octagonal shaft to the left-hand return. Above is a gablet in the chancel roof matching the one on the north side. To the left of the south-east chapel is a four-light window like that in the north wall, possibly 14th century. The south-west chapel has a pair of trefoil-headed lights and a trefoil in each return, with a pair of ogee-headed lights to its left.

The interior contains four nave trusses with moulded members, cambered ties, hammer beams with pendants and arch braces. Moulded wall-plates and purlins divide the roof slopes into panels. The second tie-beam from the west bears an inscription with the date 1589 and Roger Bodenham's name. The 19th-century chancel roof has radiating wooden ribs resting on stone corbels. The chancel contains stained glass to the diagonal eastern windows; the left window is inscribed "Behold a great Priest who praised God" and "CHARLES INTERCEDES FOR US"; the right window bears "She shall laugh in the latter day" and "HOLY IRENE PRAY FOR US". A 19th-century wooden altar of three panels is decorated with trefoils and separated by shafts.

The piscina has a trefoiled head, projecting round drain and hoodmould. The north and south sides each have a pair of two-centred arches dying into deeply chamfered jambs. The western arch on the north side is blind; the adjacent one contains a chamfered two-centred doorway to the vestry. The southern pair of arches lead into the south-east chapel, with the eastern arch featuring a dwarf stone screen decorated with shields in open quatrefoils.

The vestry contains a 19th-century fireplace with two-centred head, cast iron grate and enriched hood, with a late 20th-century softwood parquet floor. A pine confessional to the west is reached from the nave via a 19th-century doorway with two-centred head.

The south-east chapel has an elaborate bracket for a statue on its east wall. The west wall has a fireplace with four-centred head and central pedestal to the mantel. The south window is flanked by a pair of richly carved shafts with capitals. Attached to the right-hand jamb is a piscina with trefoiled head. The walls retain restored 19th-century polychromatic painting.

The nave has a low four-centred doorway, probably 16th century, leading into the south-west chapel. High up in the north wall are the moulded jambs of a fireplace. At the east end of the same wall is a two-centred 19th-century doorway to the confessional. The 16th-century doorway into the tower has a chamfered segmental head. Above this doorway are two rows of trefoil-headed traceried openings to the tower, with two openings to the top and four to the bottom row.

Several floor slabs commemorate members of the Bodenham and Stonor families, mainly 18th century. One slab in the centre, for Thomas Hildeyard who died in 1746, is inscribed "IN AGRO LINCOLNIENSI STIRPE GENEROSA ORIUNDUS".

Rotherwas Chapel is a scheduled Ancient Monument, County number 123.