Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1066 to 1799. To the east of the house at Pett Place are the possible remains of a Medieval chapel consisting of a gable end of flints containing the outline of a pointed window. It is possible that the original materials were removed from the Norman cellar of the old house at Pett Place and only reformed in the 18th century. The building is scheduled as an ancient monument.

Monument Types

• CHAPEL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1066 AD to 1799 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5272 CHARING PETT LANE Ruins of chapel at Pett Place TQ 94 NE 11/57A 14.2.67 II GV 2. To the east of Pett Place are the remains of a mediaeval chapel, consisting of a gable end of flints containing the outline of a pointed window. It is thought that the original materials were removed from the Norman cellar of the old house at Pett Place and reformed in the C18 to form a folly. Scheduled as an ancient monument.
Listing NGR: TQ9607649018

Description from record TQ 94 NE 9:
[Area centred TQ 96124894] To the east of the house at Pett Place are the remains of a medieval chapel consisting of a gable end of flints containing the outline of a pointed window. (1)

Pytte-Pett chapel in Charing. This is now incorporated in the garage of Pett Place. In Domesday Book this is in Little Chart Manor. (2,3)

The remains of this chapel comprise, the east gable end and part of the east end of the north wall only; the former containing a splayed pointed window. GP AO/61/186/1: Window in east gable end from NW. (4)

Checked and correct. (5)

TQ 962490 Ruined chapel at Pett, scheduled. (6)

(TQ 96104900) Chapel (NR) remains of (NAT) (7)

5272 Ruins of chapel at Pett Place, Pett Lane, Charing. TQ 94 NE 11/57A 14.2.67 Grade II To the east of Pett Place are the remains of a medieval chapel, consisting of a gable end of flints containing the outline of a pointed window. irt is thought that the original materials were removed from the Norman cellar of the old house at Pett Place and reformed in the C18 to form a folly. Scheduled as an ancient monument. (8,9)

From the Register of Scheduled Monuments:

A flint chapel- probably a single cell and late medieval in its present form. The N and S walls are now featureless. The East wall has a large window, probably of 3 lights, tracery now missing.
East wall remains to roof height. N wall stands to 12ft. S wall not original. General floor level about 1ft above garden and a further 1ft step marks presbytery area. Site of alter is lily pond. Pieces of tracery of E window lying around.
As on AM7 and AM12.
E window is now filled with trellis and the former pond beneath is now flower bed. SE corner is rounded off with ? Victorian flint work and the brick S wall is perhaps late C19th. The NW end of the N wall steps lead up to the higher garden level outside. (12)


From the National Heritage List for England:

List entry Description
Summary of Monument
Medieval chapel 33m south-east of Pett Place.



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. 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 later alterations, the medieval chapel at Pett Place survives well with appreciable upstanding remains. It includes some architectural details such as the pointed window in the east gable wall. The site will contain archaeological information relating to the construction, use and history of the chapel.

History
See Details.

Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 March 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.

The monument includes a medieval chapel surviving as upstanding and below-ground remains. It is situated on gently sloping ground, east of Pett Lane near Charing.

The chapel is rectangular in plan and is a single cell building with flint walls. The east gable wall survives to roof height and includes a pointed window, although the window tracery is now missing. It is thought to originally have been of three lights. The north wall is approximately 3.7m high. The south wall is a later addition constructed of brick and may have been built in the late 19th century. The chapel floor is about 0.3m above the surrounding ground level and a further step marks the presbytery.

The upstanding remains are Grade II listed. (13-14)

Archive material (15)

<1> MHLG (West Ashford RD) 1887/11/A Oct 1960 19 (OS Card Reference). SKE47066.

<2> Arch Cant 45 1933 66 List Saxon Churches in Domesday Monachorum (G Ward) (OS Card Reference). SKE35162.

<3> VCH vol 3 1932 The Domesday Monachorum 255-69 (OS Card Reference). SKE51241.

<4> F1 CFW 14.12.61 (OS Card Reference). SKE42565.

<5> F2 ASP 01.01.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43066.

<6> DOE(IAM) AMs Eng vol 2 1978 111 (OS Card Reference). SKE41419.

<7> OS 1:10000 1980 (OS Card Reference). SKE48166.

<8> DOE(HHR) Boro of Ashford Kent Oct 1980 68 (OS Card Reference). SKE40824.

<9> Bldgs of Eng NE & E Kent 1983 265 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37754.

<10> Field report for monument TQ 94 NE 9 - December, 1961 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4738.

<11> Field report for monument TQ 94 NE 9 - January, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4739.

<12> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

<13> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

<14> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<15> Historic England, Archive material associated with Pett Place, Charing, Listed Building (Archive). SKE54301.

Sources and further reading