Chapel of St Catherine

CHAPEL OF ST CATHERINE, ST CATHERINE'S HILL

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1172576
Date first listed:
26-Jan-1956
List Entry Name:
Chapel of St Catherine
Statutory Address:
CHAPEL OF ST CATHERINE, ST CATHERINE'S HILL
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Location

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Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2003-03-06
Reference:
IOE01/10077/31
Rights:
© Rev Andrew Salmon. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
I
List Entry Number:
1172576
Date first listed:
26-Jan-1956
List Entry Name:
Chapel of St Catherine
Statutory Address 1:
CHAPEL OF ST CATHERINE, ST CATHERINE'S HILL

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
CHAPEL OF ST CATHERINE, ST CATHERINE'S HILL

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Abbotsbury
National Grid Reference:
SY 57254 84836

Details

SY 58 SE ABBOTSBURY ST CATHERINE'S HILL

5/70 CHAPEL OF ST CATHERINE
26.1.56
GV I

Chapel on hill-top. c 1400, repaired in 1742 and late C19. Dressed stone walls,
much weathered. Buttresses set back at corners and at bay divisions with 2 pairs
of set-offs, pedestal tops and crenellated cornices. Octagonal newel-stair
projects at the north-west corner, and is buttressed only to parapet string.
Openings to parapet walls and for top light. Tall parapet wall with 3 segmental
openings at foot of each bay for rainwater. Stone slab roof, recently (1983)
renewed in Clipsham stone. Single-cell rectangle with axial porches to north and
south. East window is of 3 cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-
centred head. Label with returned stops. The second bays in the north and south
walls, each have a 2-light window with two-centred head, both repaired. Both
porches have steeply-pitched stone slab roofs, diagonal buttresses, and 2-centred
doorways with moulded jambs. Ribbed pointed-barrel roofs to porches.
Interior: pointed, barrel vault of stone, springing from moulded cornices, and
divided into 8 main bays by moulded ribs. Each bay has 2 ranges of 3 panels with
cinquefoiled heads. Basses are carved with foliage, 2 figure-subjects, a beast
and a man's head. East wall has 4 image brackets. South wall has a piscina with
trefoiled head and cinquefoil drain of leaf form. North west newel-stair to roof
and tiny chapel in the head of the stair-turret. This retains one of a pair of
stone supports for its altar slab, and has an ornate ceiling (partly reconstructed)
supported by a central column with a richly carved capital.
Scheduled Ancient Monument
(RCHM Dorset I, p 3 (2).)


Listing NGR: SY5725684836

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
105189
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset, (1974), 3

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Chapel of St Catherine

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 20-Jun-2026 at 02:05:49.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

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.

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