Scheduled Monument: DOMESTIC CHAPEL AT HORNE'S PLACE (1014533)
Authority | |
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Date assigned | 09 October 1981 |
Date last amended | 10 July 1996 |
Description
The monument includes a domestic chapel dating to the medieval period situated on low lying ground c.2km north of the village of Appledore, on the north western edge of Romney Marsh. The chapel building, which is Listed at Grade II*, dates to the late 14th century, and has been shown by detailed building survey to have undergone a complex history of alteration and repair, the most significant phases of which include early 16th century alterations and restoration during the 1950s. It is constructed of coursed Kentish Ragstone rubble with some yellow brick, capped with a red clay-tiled pitched roof. The monument is the earliest standing wing of an attached manor house to the north east which incorporates two early 16th century solar bays and a hall and service range rebuilt on the site of an earlier range during the 17th century. The Grade II* Listed manor house is in use as a private dwelling and is not included in the scheduling. The chapel is a south west-north east aligned, rectangular building measuring c.8.25m by 5.4m, arranged on two floors. The chapel itself is situated above a partly sunken undercroft used originally for storage. The undercroft, entered by way of modern steps descending from the ground on the south eastern side of the building through a pointed-arched doorway, has a barrel-vaulted ceiling of yellow bricks dating to c.1520 and a stone flagged floor. Some natural lighting is afforded by two small, deeply splayed windows placed centrally in the south western and north eastern ends. Access to the chapel is through an inserted cambered doorway in the south western wall, above which is a now blocked doorway with a four-centred head in yellow brick, originally giving access to a gallery built at the south western end of the chapel during the 1520s, although this has not survived. The two entrances are thought to have been linked by an external spiral staircase which is also no longer extant. There is a further, earlier, now blocked doorway in the north eastern wall which linked the chapel to the original hall wing of the attached manor house. The chapel is mainly lit by a large, restored window in the Early Perpendicular style which pierces the north eastern wall. This is traceried and incorporates triple cinquefoil motifs. The south eastern side wall is pierced towards its southern end by a restored, three-light window with triple cinquefoil tracery beneath a depressed ogee arch. This lies opposite a similar window in the north eastern wall. A small square hagioscope, or squint, which allowed an oblique view into or out of the chapel, is also set into the south eastern wall just to the south west of the larger window. An inserted, double-light cinquefoil window with a square head located just to the north of the gallery door in the south western end has been dated to the early 16th century. The present chapel roof dates to the 1520s, with some 20th century restoration work, and is of an unusual form with widely spaced rafters between heavily moulded, arched principal trusses supported by stone corbels decorated with a Catherine Wheel. This motif suggests that the chapel may have been dedicated to St Catherine, although this is not known for certain. The roof is ceiled between the rafters by contemporary wooden pannelling. Horne's Place was the seat of the influential Horne family from 1276, when Edward I gave land containing the manor to Matthew de Horne. The chapel was licenced for Divine Service in 1366. During Wat Tyler's rebellion in 1381, the manor house was forcibly entered and goods worth 10 pounds were stolen. William de Horne, then in residence and a Justice of the Peace, was subsequently made one of the commissioners reponsible for crushing the Peasants' Revolt in Kent. The Horne family used the manor as their main residence until c.1565, when it passed to the Guldeford family, and subsequently the Chute family. The chapel was used as a barn during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The monument is now in the guardianship of the Secretary of State and is open to the public. All rain water goods, English Heritage fixtures and fittings, modern wooden doors, and the attached wooden railings enclosing the steps which lead down to the undercroft on the south eastern side of the building are excluded from the scheduling
External Links (0)
Sources (1)
- SKE16191 Scheduling record: English Heritage. Register of Scheduled Monuments.
Location
Grid reference | Centred TQ 9574 3086 (15m by 15m) |
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Map sheet | TQ93SE |
County | KENT |
District | ASHFORD, KENT |
Civil Parish | APPLEDORE, ASHFORD, KENT |
Related Monuments/Buildings (1)
Record last edited
Oct 13 2011 5:00PM