Summary

Netherton Chapel.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 20 May 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. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes a small 12th century two celled chapel situated immediately east of Netherton Hall on the west side of a lane from Elmley Castle. The chapel is rectangular in plan, is on an east to west axis and consists of a nave and chancel. The west end is broadest with a stage in to a thinner chancel. The chapel walls survive mainly to eaves height and are composed largely of coursed yellow limestone rubble with some ashlar blocks, although the east end has blue lias courses. Surviving features of particular note include two blocked 17th century windows, the chancel arch and two doorways. The northern doorway has a round headed arch with zigzag moulding and the south doorway retains a chevroned tympanum of a carved winged dragon. The chapel was recorded as disused as early as the 14th century. In 1738 it was converted into a barn. The building is listed at Grade II*.

Additional archaeological deposits may survive in the vicinity, but these are not visible and therefore cannot currently be assessed.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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.

Despite loss of its roof, Netherton Chapel survives comparatively well and contains a number of architectural features of considerable interest. The interior will contain important archaeological and environmental information.

Source: Historic England