Burgundy Chapel

Little is known about the remains of Burgundy Chapel which is a late medieval chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity. This is attached, to a domestic building which is thought to date from an earlier period. The latter is known as the West Building and this may have been a hermitage. No one knows for certain how the chapel came by its name. One theory is that it was erected by a member of an important local family, the Luttell's, in thanks for a safe return from the Burgundian War fought in the fourteenth centuary.

The Chapel is constructed of mortared local sandstone. Thee chapel is nearly 4m wide and probably measured 9m long. The eastern wall no longer remains. The north wall is more than half a metre thick, the south wall even thicker. Putlog holes can be seen in the walls. These sockets were designed to carry the ends of supporting timbers. The only other structural feature of significance is the splayed reveal of the window in the south wall.

Burgundy Chapel and West Building

Fragments found during excavation show that Hamstone was used for some of the tracery works such as windows or internal fittings. The interior walls were plastered. Two lengths of masonry bonded into the outer north wall of the chapel may have been part of a tomb.

The West Building was constructed entirely of local rubble set in clay. The building forms an irregular rectangle measuring nearly 8m by 3.5m. The thickness of the walls varies from half a metre to over one metre. The West Building is joined to the chapel at the eastern wall. It can just be seen that this wall has an opening in its centre for either a door or a window.

The remains of a north/south dividing wall can be seen in the centre of the building. Excavations have shown that this wall joined the south wall but that a gap existed at the northern end, probably forming a doorway. The building therefore boasted at least two rooms the western one having an external door.

Contributed by: Greg Timms