Odda'S Chapel

Odda's Chapel is a former chapel, now under the care of English Heritage, dating back to 1056, originally built for Earl Odda. It has undergone alterations in the 17th, 18th centuries, and was restored in 1885 and 1965.

The nave is constructed from random rubble with long and short quoins, while the chancel has a rendered stone north face and irregular bond brickwork to the ground floor, with timber framing and rendered panels above. The roof is covered in stone slates. The building comprises a nave and a chancel, which incorporates an inserted floor.

The north facade includes the gable of Abbot’s Court. The ground floor of the chancel features a four-light wooden casement window with a king mullion and leaded lights. Above this is a jettied upper floor with an ovolo-moulded jetty beam. The timber framing above is divided into four panels, the lowest portion being close studded, while the upper panels are square, incorporating decorative curved timberwork at the corners and narrow herringbone detailing between the mullion and transom window, which has leaded lights. To the right, the east end of the nave wall is slightly battered, with a double-splayed, rendered window that tapers upwards to a semi-circular head. The doorway is fitted with an iron gate, plain imposts, and a semi-circular head with a hoodmould. The nave roof is slightly lower than the chancel, which oversails the east wall of the nave. The plain west wall reveals a disturbance from a blocked doorway on the south facade, where a three-light wooden mullioned window with ovolo-moulding is present on the ground floor. Above, the timber framing is close studded and a blocked window is visible.

The interior of the nave shows brick jambs and a timber lintel to a former fireplace on the west wall, which has been bricked up. There are two stone corbels on the north and south walls. The chancel arch has long and short quoins, moulded capitals, a horseshoe arch, and a plain hoodmould. A 20th-century rafter roof includes an outline king post truss. The chancel has a brick floor, with the outline of the original south wall visible further out. A 13th-century capital is set in the north-east corner. The east wall is brick, with a reproduction of the 1056 datestone and a later inscribed plaque that was formerly the head of a lancet window. Wide-chamfered beams and exposed joists remain, with part of the floor removed. Above a blocked stone fireplace on the east wall is a room with a four-centred head, a blocked doorway adjoining, a plastered ceiling, and an exposed spine beam with braces to the tie-beam against the nave wall.

In the early 17th century, the chapel became part of Abbot's Court, when the chancel was floored over and much of the walls replaced, transforming the nave into a kitchen. The chapel’s significance was recognized and partially restored in 1885, and it was fully disentangled from the house in 1965. The original datestone was found in 1675 and is now held at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The building forms a group with Abbot's Court, Priory Farmhouse, and the Church of St Mary.