Chapel Of St Mary Including Boundary Walls Adjoining To North West

This is a chapel of ease, dated 1713, but likely with origins in the 15th century, and extensively renovated in 1877. It is constructed of coursed granite ashlar on granite boulder footings, with granite ashlar detailing and a slate roof. The plan is of a small chapel on a north-west to south-east axis, a simple unaisled rectangular structure with a bellcote over the north-west gable.

The north-west end wall has a doorway with a 2-centred, almost round-headed arch and a chamfered surround, directly above which is a 19th-century clockface. The bellcote, constructed of granite ashlar with a crenellated parapet and corner pinnacles, is a feature suggesting a date earlier than 1713. It has a 2-bay arcade of low segmental arches and miniature set-back buttresses with weathered coping at the corners. Both gable ends have shaped kneelers and coping. The sides have 2-window fronts with 2-light windows of 19th-century replacement, featuring flat-topped, pointed arch heads and sunken spandrels. A taller 3-light window on the south-east end is original, and above it are plaques dated 1713 and 1877.

The interior is the result of the 19th-century refurbishment, featuring an arch-braced truss roof and plain pine fittings and furniture. A narrow plot of ground at the north-west end is enclosed by 19th-century low rubble walls with rusticated granite coping and iron railings on twisted standards. The gateway has granite ashlar posts.

Larger boulders forming part of the footings are said to be a type of granite not found locally, which has led to suggestions of a religious or pre-Christian significance. Parish records indicate the site was used as a school in 1773. The chapel occupies a prominent central position in South Zeal, a special settlement being one of the few medieval boroughs in Devon where a significant number of late-medieval houses remain. The spine beams are stop-chamfered with run-out stops.