More information : [SU 8777 1104] Site of St. Roche's Chapel shown on plan
accompanying excavation report on the Trundle [SU 81 SE 21] (1).
From its dedication it is not likely to have been built before the
last quarter of the 14th C. and by 1570 was already a ruin,
probably having been destroyed at the Dissolution. Although a
windmill mound was constructed almost on the ruins, (the mill of
which was burnt down in 1773) foundations were still visible in 1839
described as a tiny rectangular building of cement measuring
14' x 11' (2). The 1791 O.S. trig. station occupied the site and today nothing remains but a shapeless mound.
Photo AO/61/341/8 from (3).
SU 8776 1104 The site of St. Roche's Chapel is marked by a roughly
oblong mound, orientated approximately E-W which has been hollowed
out at its east end to reveal a fragment of flint walling and much
mediaeval tiling. The shape and dimensions of the mound suggest the
chapel measured approximately 11.0m E-W by 7.0m. transversely. A
small mound overlying the chapel mount at its NW possibly represents
the site of the windmill. (4)
No change. (5)
(SU 8776 1104) In May 1995, RCHME carried out an analytical earthwork survey of the monument in the course of a survey of the causewayed enclosure (SU 81 SE 52), as part of the project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic. The wall lines of two small buildings survive, in close proximity and both on the same SW to NE alignment. That to the NW, interpreted by source 4 as the possible site of the windmill, is better preserved and its dimensions of 4.2m by 3.3m correspond closely to the remains, allegedly of the chapel, recorded by source 2. (Allcroft's interpretation repeats information provided by three earlier sources: Mason 1839, who described the foundations (6a), Lower 1857, who suggested the chapel had been demolished in the Dissolution (6b) and Haines & Arnold 1880, which mentions the windmill (6c)).
An engraving of 1723 in Stukeley's Itinerarium shows several courses of masonry (supposedly of the chapel) surviving at that date, but not the windmill which was destroyed in 1773.
The first mention of a beacon (see SU 81 SE 22) on the hilltop, presumably very close to the chapel, since this stands on the highest point, dates to 1586 (6d); it was indicated on 17th century maps and was mentioned again in 1731 (6e) and in the Napoleonic period (6d). The windmill destroyed in 1773 may have been the larger of the two buildings, interpreted by Source 4 as the chapel, or may have stood on a circular mound with a hollow centre some 30m to the north. In addition a masonic lodge on the hilltop was used between 1717 and 1757 (2).
The mound on which the buildings stand is 21m in diameter and 1.2m high; given the prominence of St Roche's Hill and the proximity of the causewayed enclosure, it may have been a Bronze Age barrow.
In summary, the precise identification of the chapel is complicated by the certain re-use of the site and probable re-use of the structures. Stoneware and green glaze sherds of Med and Post-Med date were found in the area during the RCHME survey. For further details, see RCHME Level 3 client report and plan at 1:1000 scale, held in archive. (6) |