Remains of St Andrew's Chapel, 80m north west of Chapel Cross

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. Chantry chapels were built and maintained by endowment and were established for the singing of masses for the soul of the founder. 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.

The surviving remains of St Andrew's Chapel are well-preserved and form an important visual element in the north Exmoor landscape. The chapel is accessible to the public in its location adjacent to a popular route which links the villages of Luccombe and Horner. It is known from limited excavation to contain environmental evidence and archaeological remains which have the potential to provide significant information relating to the monument, the medieval landscape in which it was constructed, and the religious practices of the time.

Details

The monument includes the remains of St Andrew's Chapel, which is of medieval date, located on the lower northern slope of Luccombe Hill to the north west of Chapel Cross. The chapel survives as the footings of a rectangular building with random stone-built walls up to 0.45m in height and an average of 0.65m in width. The external dimensions of the chapel are 10m in length by 6.1m in width. A single doorway is located on the south side and is visible as a 1.6m wide gap. A limited excavation in the late 19th century by the Reverend Hancock revealed the ground plan of the chapel. The wall footings were found to be reasonably intact and a raised platform at the eastern end was identified as the possible site of the altar. Various pieces of window jambs were recovered from the excavation together with an unidentified silver instrument. There is some uncertainty surrounding the original dedication of the chapel. Reverend Hancock suggested it may have been a chapel dedicated to St Saviour which is known to have existed in Luccombe parish during the 14th century, it having been licensed by Geoffrey de Luccombe in 1316. However, an historian, F Chadwyck-Healey, writing at around the same time as Reverend Hancock, notes that it was referred to as St Andrew's Chapel in a document which dates from 1776. The timber bollards along the south side of the site between the chapel remains and the road, together with all fence posts and fencing are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.





MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

35708

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Chadwyck-Healey, F, History of Part of West Somerset, (1901), 24,104
Chadwyck-Healey, F, History of Part of West Somerset, (1901)
Hancock, Reverend F, The Parish of Selworthy, (1897), 32-35

End of official list entry

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