Description

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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Catherine's Chapel at Wikipedia
• St Catherine's Chapel official website
• Wikidata Q7592748

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)