Disused Chapel At Sx 669 889

SX 68 NE GIDLEIGH

3/169 Disused Chapel at SX 669 889 - GV II

Disused chapel, later cow byre. C13 or C14. The chapel was disused in 1332. Probably in the C16 or C17 the west end was demolished the building shortened and it was converted to a byre. However it has been completely unused for well over a century since it now contains mature oak trees. Built of large blocks of roughly-dressed granite tending to ashlar with massive quoins, west end rebuilt with granite stone rubble; no roof. Plan and description: small gable-ended building on an east-west axis. It contains a small rectangular window in the east end, another towards the east end of the north wall and a third is assumed opposite in the south wall but a doorway has since been knocked through here. The original entrance is thought to have been in the west end but this has been demolished and a new west wall built. The Rev. J Rawson argues convincingly that this small building is the remains of the chapel of La Wallen, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was desecrated in 1332 when the clerk Robert de Middlecotte committed a murder there. The alignment, construction and disposition of the windows certainly look like a small chapel and it is probably no accident that the nearby farmhouse is called Chapple.

Listing NGR: SX6693588935