Queen Mary Chapel

Queen Mary Chapel

Weald Road, South Weald, Brentwood. Red brick with peg-tiled roof. Originally built in the mid-16th century as a lodge (formerly and incorrectly called Princess Mary's Chapel), substantially enlarged in the 19th century, with 20th-century additions.

The building is L-shaped and two storeys tall. The main façade presents two distinct blocks: the south-east block dates from the mid-16th century with authentic Tudor brickwork, while the north-west block is a 19th-century addition in matching style.

The mid-16th-century block is defined by octagonal buttresses with three diminishing stages, each surmounted by octagonal pinnacles with moulded bases and crown-shaped capitals. Gable ends have moulded copings with similar octagonal pinnacles at the apex. The ground floor features a 19th-century panelled door with linenfold decoration and a flat hood, paired with a 5-light casement window with transoms and diamond leaded panes. A string course marks the division to the first floor, where an oriel window of 4 casements with transoms and diamond-leaded lights sits centrally, with single lights on each return.

The 19th-century north-west block is smaller in scale but maintains the same architectural character, featuring buttresses and pinnacles with a 3-light casement window on the ground floor.

The north-west elevation includes a "chancel" section (a 19th-century creation) with a panelled door beneath a triangular head and a 3-light fixed window with 4-centred heads and diamond panes, both under a common hood moulding. A link bay connecting the two sections bears a water head dated 1857 and a lean-to porch. The adjoining wing repeats similar details with gables terminating on kneelers and apex pinnacles, and features 2-light casement windows with arched heads and lattice panes, plus a 20th-century rectangular casement with lattice panes.

The south-east garden elevation preserves the gable wall of the mid-16th-century block in its least altered state. The plinth has a moulded chamfer, and the ground slopes away. The ground floor contains a central original doorway and side windows with 4-centred heads in rectangular recesses beneath a common hood mould. These were originally casements with diamond-leaded panes but are now fixed. The first floor has a prominent 7-light central window with hollow moulded mullions and arched heads under hood mould. The 19th-century extension to the north-east sits set back with a gable end pinnacle, featuring 3 fixed windows with 2-centre heads on the ground floor and 2 windows with 2-light casements on the first floor. A deep, full-length lean-to pentice roof, supported by 2 granite piers with Corinthian capitals, runs the full length; the roof is covered with 20th-century interlocking tiles.

The south-west rear elevation features a central crow-stepped stack with two diagonally set shafts, rebuilt. Beneath the pentice roof, the ground floor has a 19th-century 2-centre headed inserted window. The first floor contains an inserted 2-centre headed doorway with an iron balcony on the south-east side of the stack, and a 3-light window with arched heads and diamond lattice panes to the north-west. A second water head, dated 1857, appears in the internal angle between the two main blocks.

Interior: The interior has been much refurbished. The lower section of an original buttress at the north-east angle of the mid-16th-century block remains visible. Other evidence of original features, including fireplace openings, has been removed or obscured.

Historical context: The building served as a lodge to Weald Hall (demolished 1950), accessed from the public road via the south-west elevation. The 19th-century additions, particularly the "chancel" section created by the link and wing, gave the building a chapel-like appearance that led to historical misattribution. Queen Mary Chapel, together with the granary at Weald Park and the Lodge to Rochetts, form an associated group of estate buildings.