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Summary

Remains of a chapel on Brent Hill shown on 19th century map and thought to be of Medieval origin

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1002610: Remains of chapel on Brent Hill
• Listed Building (II) 1147776: REMAINS OF CHAPEL OF ST MICHAEL
• Scheduled Monument 1002662: Hillfort on Brent Hill

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX76SW13
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 444950
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX76SW/9
• Old Listed Building Ref: 99355
• Old SAM County Ref: 823

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CHAPEL (Built, XIV to XIX - 1374 AD (Between) to 1824 AD (Between))

Full description

Department of Environment, 17/07/1972, Remains of Chapel on Brent Hill (Schedule Document). SDV352061.

Small rectangular structure 6 yards by 4 yards. North wall preserved to a maximum of 4 feet 6 inches high. South wall foundatins only remaining. Walls of rubble core set in mortar, faced with dressed granite blocks. Walls 3 feet thick. Remains of window in east wall. Site visit 4th May 1970.

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

'Chapel (Remains of)' shown on 19th century map as a smll L-shaped building.

Rowe, S., 1896, A Perambulation of the Royal Forest of Dartmoor and the venville precincts, 167 (Monograph). SDV249697.

Ordnance Survey, 1904 - 1906, Second Edition Ordnance Survey 25 inch Map (Cartographic). SDV325644.

'Chapel (Remains of)' shown on early 20th century map.

Worth, R. H., 1941, Dartmoor: 1788 - 1808, 209-210 (Article in Serial). SDV160667.

Worth gives an account of a plaque reciting the destruction of an ancient chapel by lightening in 1777.

Stephan, D. J., 1952-1953, St. Michael's chapel on Brent Hill, 122-124 (Article in Serial). SDV163658.

Edward III granted a three day fair at Brentdonne to Buckfast Abbey, commencing on St. Michael's Day. The chapel of St. Michael was licensed by Bishop Brantingham in 1374.

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 347 (Monograph). SDV17562.

Russell, P., 1955, Fire Beacons in Devon, 264, 280 (Article in Serial). SDV336138.

'Pd. For the searching of Brent Beacon two severall times' is recorded in the Dartington Church Wardens accounts for 1628.

Stephan, D. J., 1959-1961, St. Michael's Chapel on Brent Hill, 50-51 (Article in Serial). SDV163665.

18th century description quoted which indicates that the chapel had a corbelled roof.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1960, SX76SW13 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV163660.

In 1350 Edward III granted the Abbot of Buckfast the right to hold an annual three-day fair at South Brent on the feast of St. Michael and the two preceding days. Evidence of the erection of a chapel is found in the Register of Bp. Brantyngham, vol. 1, fol. 53, where in the year 1374 the Abbot is granted a licence for the Chapel of St. Michael at Brent Hill (D. John Stephan, O.S.B., 1952-3, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, Vol 25, pg. 122-4).
Handsford Worth publishes a sketch (dated 1789) of a building erected on Brent Hill in 1781, on the site and as a monument to a former building traditionally known as a chapel. The chapel was destroyed in 1777 apparently by lightning, but from the sketch it seems possible that the folly incorporated the remains of the chapel. The 18th century building was of short duration. Rowe, in 1846, reported that there were hardly any vestiges, and it was possibly destroyed in a storm of 1824. (R. H. Worth, 1941, TDA Vol 73, p. 209-10).
(Photograph of sketch see AO/60/13/1).
Dr. Hoskins erroneously describes the present remains on South Brent Hill as those of a windmill built about 1790 (W. G. Hoskins, 1954, Devon, p. 347).
(07/06/1960) The north and east walls of a building survive to a maximum height of 1.5 m. and foundations of the south and west walls are traceable. The rubble walling 0.8 m. thick, is faced with trimmed stone, bedded in a strong lime mortar. The stone is very little weathered and the structure does not have the appearance of great age. One small isolated block of fallen masonry lies to the south of the remains, which appear to be those of the 18th century building although possibly including some fragments of the 14th century chapel.
Ground photograph: see AO/60/69/3.

Robinson, R., 1977-1979, South Brent Parish Checklist Worksheets (Worksheet). SDV340722.

Details of documentary references given on worksheet.

National Monuments Record, 1980, SF1743, 011-014 (Aerial Photograph). SDV161746.

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1985, Aerial Photograph Project (Dartmoor) - Dartmoor Pre-NMP (Cartographic). SDV319854.

Buiding recorded.

Snell, R., 1986, Green Lanes in Devon Project (Un-published). SDV8442.

Remains of an old chapel on Brent Hill.

Department of Environment, 1986, South Brent, 52 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV178295.

Ruins of chapel. Medieval. There is documentary evidence of its existence in 1374 stone. Only the lower courses of the walls and their foundations remain. The ruin is situated on Brent Hill, a conspicuous and steep sided hill with outcrops of rock. On the east side of Brent Hill there are ancient earthworks. The chapel remains is Scheduled Ancient Monument 823.

Swete, J. (ed. Gray T. + Rowe, M.), 2000, Travels in Georgian Devon. The Illustrated Journals of the Reverend John Swete. Vol. 4, 23 (Monograph). SDV339713.

Swete refers to 'the conical hill on the summit of which, yet stood the little building erected by my father, as an 'eye-catch' from his Gardens at Ashburton'.

Bennett, R., 2009, Airborne Remote Sensing Analysis - Brent Hill, Appendix 3, Page 16 (Report - Survey). SDV359640.

Rectangular platform marked as a chapel on 19th century map. Circa 116 metre square area.

Historic England, 2016, National Heritage List for England, 1002610 (National Heritage List for England). SDV359353.

Monument is Listed Grade II as the remains of the Chapel of St Michael on Brent Hill. Ruins of a Medieval chapel. There is documentary evidence of its existence in 1374 stone. Only the lower courses of the walls and their foundations remain. The ruin is situated on Brent Hill, a conspicuous and steep-sided hill with outcrops of rock. On the east side of Brent Hill there are ancient earthworks. The chapel remains is Scheduled Ancient Monument 823.
The monument is also Scheduled and includes a medieval chapel situated close to the summit of Brent Hill overlooking the Avon Valley. The chapel survives as a rectangular building measuring 6 metres long by 3.5 metres wide internally, with upstanding masonry walls to the north and east of up to 0.9 metres wide and 1.5 metres high, elsewhere the walls and internal structures are preserved as buried features. The walls are constructed from mortared rubble faced with trimmed and dressed granite blocks. Part of a window splay is visible in the east wall and a 0.9 metre wide door opening is traceable on the ground in the south west corner. At some distance to the south lies a small block of detached masonry. The chapel has a well documented history. In 1340 Edward III granted Abbot Phillip of Buckfast (the abbey owned the manor of Brent) the right to hold a three day annual fair at South Brent to celebrate the feast of St Michael. In 1374 a charter for the erection of a chapel was licensed by Bishop Brantyngham and gave permission for mass to be heard once a year on St Michael’s Day, to coincide with the fair. The time delay between these two events may have been brought about by the Black Death, which delayed construction of the chapel. In 1777 the chapel was damaged during a storm, allegedly by a lightning strike. It was subsequently incorporated into a folly in about 1781 and there is a published sketch dated 1789 of this building as a ‘monument to the former chapel’. Several sources suggest a ‘windmill’ in its place by the 1790’s. This building was also severely damaged by storms in 1824 leaving only fragments of the original chapel. There is also a suggestion that a ‘watchers hut’ was erected to provide shelter for those involved with a nearby beacon, but as to whether this incorporated the chapel or not is unclear.
The chapel is immediately surrounded by another scheduled monument. The chapel is also listed at Grade II.

Historic England, 2021-2022, NRHE to HER website, Accessed 23/05/2022 (Website). SDV364039.

On Brent Hill is "an ancient chappel dedicated to St. Michael, 11 paces long and 8 wide from out to out" (History of Buckfast Abbey 1970 125 (Dom J Stephan).
Milles also made a rough sketch of the chapel (Survey of parishes of Devon c 1753 Dean Jeremy Milles's MSS in Bodleian Library).

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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