Chapel Of St Leonard, Perimeter Wall And Gateway Farleigh Hungerford Castle

Chapel of St Leonard, Farleigh Hungerford Castle

This chapel, originally the parish church, now serves as a monument within the castle. It was built in the mid-14th century with substantial additions and alterations spanning the late 14th, mid-15th, early 16th and mid-19th centuries. The structure is constructed from random rubble Doulting stone with ashlar quoins, topped by a stone slate gabled roof with copings.

The building comprises a west porch, nave and chancel. The west porch is entered through a 4-centred moulded arch, over which sits the Hungerford badge of sickles and sheath. Inside the porch is a wagon roof with a plaster ceiling (now removed) that featured moulded ribs and principals with carved and painted bosses. The west door has a moulded pointed arch with a 3-light perpendicular tracery window set in a pointed arch with dripmould, probably from the mid-14th century.

The nave and chancel form a plain rectangular space with diagonally set buttresses at the corners. The interior contains five bays with 'A'-frame trusses featuring stop-moulded chamfers on ties and collars, and moulded plates. Five windows, now blocked before 1852, once lit the interior. The east window is a 3-light example with elementary panel tracery under a depressed arch.

From the west door, five steps lead down to the chapel's flagstone floor. At the foot of these steps lies a grave slab of a chaplain from around 1480. To the east, on a 2-step podium, stands the font, a late-12th-century piece that may be a survival from the church's earliest phase. The east wall carries wall paintings from around 1440 depicting St George slaying the dragon with conventional patterning and the Hungerford Arms, with the arms themselves added in the 16th century. The south wall also bears wall paintings of a knight, now almost completely disappeared. A pulpit, assembled from pieces carved around 1600, stands in the chapel. An ogee-headed piscina from around 1440, brought from the parish church in 1874, is also present. The altar slab, probably original, rests against the east wall.

The Chantry Chapel of St Anne projects from the north-east corner. Built between 1380 and 1390 for Sir Thomas Hungerford as a burial place for himself and his family, it is entered from the chancel beneath a wide, nearly semi-circular moulded arch. The chapel has a low-pitched roof whose timbers and walls were richly decorated between 1645 and 1648, with traces of this decoration still surviving. The black and white marble floor also dates to 1645-48. The chantry chapel windows and the east window of the chancel contain Flemish or Dutch stained glass from the 17th and 18th centuries, introduced during the mid-19th century.

The tombs within the chapel represent generations of the Hungerford family. Beneath the arch to the chantry chapel lie Sir Thomas Hungerford (died 1398) and his wife Joan Hussey (died 1412). Their tomb features five elongated quatrefoils with shields and recumbent effigies. Sir Thomas is depicted in mail armour with his head resting on a helm and feet on a lion, while his lady wears a cloak and mantle with her head on a cushion and feet on two dogs. These effigies are enclosed by an iron grille, re-erected between 1820 and 1840, which incorporates 17th-century fragments.

In the south-east corner of the chancel is the tomb of Sir Walter Hungerford (died 1596) and his son Edward (died 1583), richly coloured with a flat top featuring an incised epitaph. In the north-east corner of the chantry chapel stands the tomb of Sir Edward Hungerford (died 1607) and his wife Jane, similarly richly coloured with a flat top, incised epitaph, and once filled with lead. In the north-west corner of the chantry chapel is the tomb of Mary (died 1613), sister to Sir Edward Hungerford, with a bronze epitaph plate on the wall above. At the centre of the chantry chapel lies the tomb of Sir Edward Hungerford (died 1698) and his wife Margaret Holliday, featuring black and white marble with richly carved white marble effigies. Sir Edward is shown in full armour with feet on a helm, while his lady wears a cloak, both with heads on pillows and cushions. A Latin epitaph accompanies the tomb.

Beneath the chantry chapel runs a barrel-vaulted crypt, accessed from outside on the north side of the house by a flight of steps. The crypt contains six adult and two infant lead coffins.

The perimeter retaining wall dates to the 19th century and is constructed from random rubble Doulting stone with battlements. It incorporates a 16th-century gateway featuring a 4-centred arch with chamfered stone surround, the Hungerford badge above, and a 19th-century coped gable with cross finial. A vertical boarded and studded gate closes the gateway.

The chapel is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset County No 4).