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Summary

Chapel built in 1800 by Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (now Ontario). It was given to the people of Ontario in 1966. It is on the site of Wulphere Church which was founded by King Aethelbald of Mercia in AD743.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: ST10NW/22
• Old Listed Building Ref (II)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CHAPEL (Built, XVIII - 1800 AD to 1800 AD)

Full description

Wilkin, W. H., 1940-1941, The hatchments in Wolford Chapel, 79-81 (Article in Serial). SDV124142.

Built in 1800 by General Simcoe, his biography. Hatchments bearing the arms of Simcoe, Gwillim, etc.

Department of Environment, 1950, Honiton RD, 2156/11/a,(1950)18-19 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV118185.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1975, ST10NW1 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV124140.

Site visit 11th January 1962. Chapel, no longer in use, built on site of Wulphere Church in 1800. It appears to incorporate no structural details of the medieval church.

Department of Environment, 1988, Dunkeswell, 29 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV324134.

Chapel belonging to Canada. 1800, built by Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe, restored circa 1966. Local stone rubble with limestone ashlar detail; slate roof.
Plan: small chapel is rectangular in plan with the entrance in the west end.
Exterior: both long sides (north and south) have 2-window fronts of square-headed single light windows containing decorated tracery. In the west end the doorway is a 2-centred arch with hoodmould and directly above is a quatrefoil oculus. There is a chamfered plinth around the building and below it, on the east, west and south sides, are a series of arch-headed niches, most of which contain slate plaques in memory of various members of the Simcoe family. The roof is gable-ended with shaped barge boards.
Interior: the roof structure is hidden by a plaster segmental vault. The walls are plastered and the floor is laid with C19 tiles. Carved oak reredos in gothic style and including painted panels of the lords prayer and commandments. Beerstone ashlar altar in gothic style. Oak altar rail on cast iron standards. The oak reading desk the pews and wainscotting incorporate a great deal of C17 carved pieces including linenfold panels, chip-carved lunettes flowers and the like. The font is beerstone and gothic in style. There are some probably C18 lozenge-shaped boards on the walls painted with armorial bearings.
A plaque also records that in 1966 the deeds of the chapel were handed to the Prime Minister of Ontario by Sir Geoffrey Harmsworth whose family previously owned restored and maintained the chapel. It is the burial place of Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806) who was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, now Ontario, and was the founder of the City of York, now Toronto. The chapel is apparently built on the site of old Wulphere Church.

Mitchell, N., 1995, The medieval floor-tiles from Wolford Chapel, near Dunkeswell, East Devon (Un-published). SDV366393.

Masters dissertation on 551 medieval floor tiles from Wolford Chapel looking at the different designs, the fabric and manufacturing techniques. The tiles are representative of the ‘Wessex’ floor tile industry which dates to the 13th century. They are two-coloured, with a white clay inlay forming the decoration and a contrasting dark red clay background. The tiles were removed from the chapel in 1990, where they had been set in cement around the exterior of the chapel some time in the 19th century. The tiles, which were all in a fragmentary state, were lifted to prevent further frost damage and cleaned, to enable a full study of them to be undertaken. It is intended to reset the tiles within the chapel, around the altar.
The study identified twenty seven different designs, including an elephant and castle, lions, a gryphon, a fish and a probable bull. There is also a single tile fragment depicting a horse’s leg which, it is suggested, was originally of a horse and rider, possibly Richard I and which would have been paired with another, depicting the Turkish leader, Saladin. The most interesting and important tile, of which 6 fragments survive, is that depicting a ship at sea and for which there are no comparable tiles. However, other of the Wolford designs have been identified at a number of other sites including the parish church at Dunkeswell Abbey, Ottery St Mary parish church and Mulchelney, Cleeve and Glastonbury Abbeys.
Analysis of the fabric, and the techniques used to create the designs and manufacture the tiles revealed that the tiles represented five different tiled floors made by three different workshops within about a 40 year period in the 13th-14th century, using locally sourced clays. It is also suggested that the Wolford tiles are part of the Dunkeswell Abbey assemblage that was uncovered in 1841 and retained for the refurbishment of Wolford Chapel.
Wolford Chapel was founded by King Aethelbald of Mercia in 743, one of several founded at the southern limits of his advance. They were each dedicated to a person of great piety known to the king and so Wolford was dedicated to St Wulfere, King of Mercia AD657-675 and the first to embrace Christianity.
The only medieval reference is in 1202 when William, Lord Brewer donated his lands in Dunkeswell and ‘Wulferchurch’ for the founding of Dunkeswell Abbey. The church remained as part of the Dunkeswell estate until the dissolution in 1539. It was in a ruinous state when rebuilt in 1800-1802 by Lt-General Simcoe. The rebuilt chapel incorporated part of the earlier chapel.

Watts, S., 2021, Wolford Chapel (Ground Photograph). SDV365936.

Photo of the exterior of the chapel. The chapel, which is a family chapel on the former estate of John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, was given to the people of Ontario in 1966.

Ordnance Survey, 2024, Mastermap 2024 (Cartographic). SDV365834.

Wolford Chapel marked as the site of Wulphere Church.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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