The Hanging Chapel

The Hanging Chapel is a gateway spanning the road with a chapel above, which is now a Masonic Lodge. It has origins dating back to the 13th century, with most of the structure being from the 15th century and restored in the 19th century. The building is constructed from local lias stone that is roughly cut and squared, with Ham stone dressings. The chapel features a plain clay tiled roof situated between coped gables topped with ball finials. The gateway is plain, with chamfered pointed arches at the ends of the through vault, and there is a small niche on each side wall of the throughway. A single buttress is located on the east side, and a coped parapet encircles the walkway.

The chapel itself appears to have undergone significant restoration, with the east gable rebuilt over a three-light semi-circular arched window that possibly features 18th-century tracery. The chapel also has angled corner buttresses and a moulded pointed arched doorway in the west wall, which lacks a label. There are extensions on the south side from the 19th and 20th centuries, made of stone with a flat roof. A set of 19th-century approach stairs in the southwest corner, equipped with a 20th-century handrail, leads up to a three-centre arched doorway set in the archway wall.

On the north side, against the gateway wall in the garden of East Gate, there is a small storehouse made of lias stone, designed in a 12th-century style. The interior of the chapel is not normally accessible. Originally, it served as the Chantry Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mentioned in 1344, and later became the Town Hall from 1596 to 1600, Langport Grammar School from 1706 to around 1790, and subsequently served various purposes including an arms store, a Sunday School, and private uses until it was leased as a Masonic Lodge in 1891. The site is also designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset No. 273).