Ruined chapel at Pett

Summary

Medieval chapel 33m south-east of Pett Place.

Reasons for Designation

A medieval chapel is a building, usually rectangular, containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate for Christian worship in the pre-Reformation period. Chapels were designed for congregational worship and were generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provided accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which was the main domain of the priest and contained the principal altar. Around 4000 parochial chapels were built between the 12th and 17th centuries as subsidiary places of worship built for the convenience of parishioners who lived at a distance from the main parish church. Other chapels were built as private places of worship by manorial lords and lie near or within manor houses, castles or other high-status residences. Some chapels possessed burial grounds. Unlike parish churches, the majority of which remain in ecclesiastical use, chapels were often abandoned as their communities and supporting finances declined or disappeared. Many chantry chapels disappeared after the dissolution of their supporting communities in the 1540s. Chapels, like parish churches, have always been major features of the landscape. A significant number of surviving examples are identified as being nationally important.

The sites of abandoned chapels, where positively identified, are particularly worthy of statutory protection as they were often left largely undisturbed and thus retain important information about the nature and date of their use up to their abandonment.

Despite later alterations, the medieval chapel at Pett Place survives well with appreciable upstanding remains. It includes some architectural details such as the pointed window in the east gable wall. The site will contain archaeological information relating to the construction, use and history of the chapel.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 March 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a medieval chapel surviving as upstanding and below-ground remains. It is situated on gently sloping ground, east of Pett Lane near Charing.

The chapel is rectangular in plan and is a single cell building with flint walls. The east gable wall survives to roof height and includes a pointed window, although the window tracery is now missing. It is thought to originally have been of three lights. The north wall is approximately 3.7m high. The south wall is a later addition constructed of brick and may have been built in the late 19th century. The chapel floor is about 0.3m above the surrounding ground level and a further step marks the presbytery.

The upstanding remains are Grade II listed.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

KE 175

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
Kent HER TQ 94 NE 9. NMR TQ 94 NE 9. PastScape 419440

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry