Mortuary Chapel (Roman Catholic) Including Walls And Gates

Roman Catholic Mortuary Chapel including walls and gates, Chideock, dating from 1857 and designed by Charles Weld (1812-1885).

The building is constructed from rubble limestone and flint with limestone (probably hamstone) dressings, set under a grey slate roof. The boundary wall is rubble stone and flint with ashlar gate piers and wrought iron gates.

The chapel has a cruciform plan of modest footprint. Each of the four elevations is of similar proportions with a steeply pitched gable end and diagonal buttresses with set-offs. The transepts have plain and fish-scale slate roofs. A squat square tower with pyramidal roof rises above the centre. The front (north) elevation has a wide shouldered doorway with straight-chamfered jambs. The door is constructed of slender timber planks and features elaborate wrought iron strap hinges. Above the door is a Latin-inscribed tympanum set beneath a round-headed arch, with an oval window above. A stone step leading to the doorway sits within a concrete slab. A stone plinth surrounds the exterior of the chapel. A lancet window is set in the chancel wall to the east of the north transept. The east wall is dominated by a large cross of brick headers which has a lozenge stone centre with Alpha and Omega and the crossed keys of the Papal insignia. Another lancet window is in the south-facing wall of the chancel. The south transept wall has a quatrefoil window in the gable end, and the segmental head of a former crypt door is visible at the base of the elevation, partly obscured by the stone plinth. A low relief stone rood of Christ Crucified is on the west wall, with INRI inscribed over the figure of Christ flanked by two doves and a lamb. Foliage and nail-head ornament appear in the spandrels. Above is an oval window in mandorla form. An iron crucifix is fixed to the apex of the tower roof. A rectangular rubble stone wall, with ashlar gate piers and wrought iron gates decorated with religious emblems, provides a retaining boundary to the chapel.

The central chamber is dominated by four deeply chamfered ashlar stone columns at each corner, rising to form pointed arches. The tower walls and transept roofs are richly painted with religious iconography and inscriptions. The interior is simply furnished, with timber steps and dais supporting a carved stone altar in the east chancel, which has colonettes to the corners and a central cross with Alpha and Omega carved on diamond-shaped lozenges at either side. The walls are decorated at dado level with patterned mosaic-style tiling and a decorative terracotta rail featuring religious symbols. The walls are covered in traditional plaster and contain lancet windows and simple painted round-headed arches. A dentilled triple-cornice of terracotta in the transepts marks the division above which the walls and ceilings are painted in richly-hued religious iconography in the manner of the Italian Primitives, depicting English Martyrs and other religious subjects, such as depictions of Christ Crucified on the tower walls and a portrait of Christ above the oval window in the north transept. Some decoration is spoilt due to water damage. Fine stone corbelling appears at the base of the tower, also richly painted. The upper part of the tower has a timber structure. The floor coverings are of stone slab and red brick. A sealed entrance to a crypt lies in the south transept with a plinth fitted between floor and dado level.

The Gothic-detailed chapel was completed in 1857 to the design of Charles Weld, son of the Lord of the Manor. The chapel took a number of years to complete as Weld added an unusual, lavish painted interior. Weld's next project was the nearby church, a Basilica on a grand scale with expensive marble fittings and more rich decoration. The chapel has been relatively unmodified since its construction, receiving repairs and possibly an external stone plinth, and it appears on Ordnance Survey Maps of 1889, 1903 and 1929 with its current plan.