Becket’s Chapel

Becket’s Chapel, founded in 1174, has served various purposes over the centuries, including as a school after the Reformation and later as a public hall and county branch library following its restoration in 1873. The chapel was re-fenestrated in the late 14th century and re-roofed in the late 15th century. It is constructed of flint with ashlar dressings and features a roof made of black glazed pantiles.

The building has a nave with a continuous chancel and a former two-bay south nave aisle, which has been blocked in brick. The south doorway is moulded and has a plank door, with a two-light arched window above it, as well as another clerestory-level window to the east. The nave is supported by two stepped buttresses. The chancel has a three-light south window with hollow-chamfered continuous mouldings and angle buttresses at the east end flanking a smaller, similar three-light east window. The north side mirrors this design, featuring three Perpendicular windows under stilted arches, while the west window also consists of three lights with a stilted arch. The roof is gabled, and at the south end, there is a two-storey brick gabled structure with sparsely lit rectangular windows.

Inside, the chapel features a tall west arch that is wave-moulded and filled with a deep casement adorned with carved fleurons, some of which are unfinished on the north side. The former two-bay south aisle includes a polygonal central pier and double hollow-chamfered arches. The seven-bay hammerbeam roof diminishes in width towards the east, with chamfered hammer posts and arched braces to wall posts supported on timber corbels. The roof also has chamfered pendants, arched braces to collars, and principals with two tiers of moulded butt purlins. In the southeast corner, there is an ogeed trefoil piscina featuring a crocket.