Chapel of St. Botolph

The Chapel of St. Botolph is a chapel of ease dating from the late 14th or early 15th century, originally founded as a chantry. It was licensed for an altar and font in 1412, rebuilt around 1500, and subsequently endowed and again made a chantry by J. Sherife. In 1576, it was converted for use as a Grammar School founded by Sir Nicholas Bacon, before undergoing repairs in the early 19th century and reverting to ecclesiastical use in 1883.

The chapel is constructed of flint rubble, knapped to the front, with brick and ashlar dressings. It has a machine tiled and pantiled roof that is continuous with that of Chapel House. The building is four bays, combining a nave and chancel in a single space. The west-facing entrance bay features an original moulded panelled door within a pointed arch with continuous roll and hollow mouldings, a hoodmould, and C19 red and white brick voussoirs. Above the entrance, a stone and flushwork inscription, interrupted by a C19 two-light neo-Perpendicular gallery window, is believed to have originally read: "Orate pro animabus Johannis Schrebe et Juliane uxoris ejus orate pro anima Bregyt Wykes." To the left are three three-light Perpendicular windows with cusped headed lights, hoodmoulds, and red brick voussoirs. The chapel includes an offset stone plinth, sprocket eaves, tall two-stage buttresses, and a diagonal buttress to the east end. The east end has a four-light Perpendicular window with ogee cusped headed lights, a coped gable parapet with a ridge cross, and a bell on the ridge to the west.

The rear elevation features three-light Perpendicular windows similar to those on the front. The entrance bay on the rear has a blocked pointed arch with continuously roll, hollow and wave mouldings, beneath a hoodmould, above a later two-light casement.

The interior includes a blocked triple moulded pointed arch designed for an unbuilt tower in the west. The roof is of eight bays, with arch braced cambered collars, butt purlins, and a ridge piece. It contains chamfered main timbers and, on ends of short wallposts, later panels of varying shapes, with masks to the west. An original screen separates the west end or entrance bay from the main body of the chapel, incorporating eight four-centred arches, with a central opening featuring restored arches with roll and wave mouldings on the west side. A Late 17th-century gallery is supported by broad joists and has a panelled frontal with moulded muntins. At the top of the stairs, six original turned balusters remain. The chapel also features a Late 17th-century reredos with C19 brattishing, early C19 raised dado panelling along the north wall, C19 seating, and an octagonal font.