St Aldhelm'S Chapel

Saint Aldhelm's Chapel is an Anglican chapel-of-ease dating from the 12th century. It features rubble stone walls and a pyramidal stone slate roof topped with a 20th-century stone cross on a circular base. A moulded corbel table is present on the north-east wall. The chapel has large added buttresses on the north-west, north-east, and south-east walls, as well as at the north angle, with an original shallow buttress at the south angle. The building has a square plan and includes a small lancet window at the east end of the south-east wall, which also has a moulded string course. The entrance is located in the north-west wall and consists of a round-headed doorway with two simple orders and a hoodmould.

Inside, a central composite pier supports a quadrupartite vault, featuring simple chamfered ribs and shallow wall shafts. The walls are unplastered, and the floor is stone flagged, raised but still below ground level. There is a 19th-century stone font. Although traditionally described as a chapel and noted by Hutchins as being served by a royal chaplain in the 13th century, the building lacks specific ecclesiastical features. Its plan form, orientation, and limited natural lighting are atypical for a church, giving it the appearance of a vaulted undercroft, possibly intended for an uncompleted tower structure. The chapel is situated on a platform in the center of an earthwork enclosure and is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.