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Summary

Remains of Medieval tower at the former St Mary's Chantry College in Slapton

Location

Protected Status

• Listed Building (I) 1317950: TOWER OF COLLEGIATE CHANTRY OF ST MARY
• Scheduled Monument 1011672: Slapton chantry college
• Listed Building (I) 1317950: TOWER OF COLLEGIATE CHANTRY OF ST MARY

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 445861
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX84NW/1/1
• Old Listed Building Ref (I): 99900
• Old SAM County Ref: 202
• Old SAM Ref: 24844
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SX84NW4

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• TOWER (XIII to XVI - 1300 AD to 1600 AD (Between))

Full description

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

'Tower' shown on 19th century map at 'St Mary's College (Remains of)'.

Radford, C. + Radford, R., 1939, 18th Report on Ancient Monuments, 67 (Article in Serial). SDV11940.

Ministry of Works, 1948, Slapton, Belfry Tower (Schedule Document). SDV346576.

Belfry tower seminary built and endowed by Sir Guy de Bryan in 1350, dissolved in 1545. All the buildings were demolished except the Gatehouse Tower and the Belfry Tower. The Gatehouse was more or less destroyed by the villagers in the 18th century who removed the stone to rebuild their cottages. The belfry tower is all that remains. In 1878 the site was taken over by Father Ignatius who intended to rebuild the monastry but the scheme was abandoned. Other details: Monument 202.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1950 - 1953, SX84NW4 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV346566.

Dissolved in 1545. All the buildings were demolished except the Gatehouse Tower and the Belfry Tower. The ruins of the old mansion were removed about 1800 except the lofty tower which stands in the garden. The tower has walls 0.6 metres thick and is constructed of local slate-like stone with a walled-in window in the west wall and an open archway beneath the old roof line in the east. This archway probably led to the nave of the church. The only remains of the fabric of the collegiate church in situ. Of rubble with ashlar dressings and is now roofless. Corbelled parapet and north-west turret with finial. Plain arch on east large blocked west window.The tower of the collegiate church, is fairly well preserved although somewhat overgrown.

Pevsner, N., 1952, The Buildings of England: South Devon (Monograph). SDV336217.

The tower shows on its east side the tower-arch and roof-line of the adjoining church.

Hoskins, W. G., 1954, A New Survey of England: Devon, 479 (Monograph). SDV17562.

In 1373 Sir Guy de Brian, standard-bearer to Edward III and Lord of the Manor, founded a collegiate chantry, of which the Great Tower, 24.38 metres high and built of Charleton slate, is the boldest feature of the village.

Department of Environment, 1960, Kingsbridge, 29 (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV140479.

Robinson, R., 1984, List of Field Monument Warden Visits 1984 (Un-published). SDV343082.

Site visited on 17th January 1984.

Gibbons, P., 1993, 134697 (Un-published). SDV346568.

Tower constructed of dressed and coursed rubble utilising local slate, brownish in colour, with greenish coloured quoins. It stands to a height of about 25 metres, in three stories, the lower of which is equal in height to the two upper stories together. It is square in plan with an octagonal stair turret forming the south-west corner, and with massive diagonal buttresses, set back steeply above the first storey, projecting from the other four corners. It is decorated with two moulded string courses and has numerous putlog holes. At ground level the overall dimensions of the tower are some 9.2 metres square. The walls are up to 1.2 metres in thickness, enclosing an interior space of 3.75 metres square. It is entered on its east side through a high pointed arch that spans the entire east wall, and which originally linked the tower with the nave of the church.

Department of National Heritage, 1995, Slapton Chantry College (Schedule Document). SDV346574.

The monument includes a chantry college situated on the northern edge of the village of Slapton in a prominent position on the lower slopes of a south west facing hillside. The village is less than 1 kilometre from the coast and the freshwater lagoon of Slapton Ley. The monument consists of the known extent of the upstanding and buried remains of a chantry college in occupation from 1373 until 1547. The visible remains consist of a ruined tower that formed the western end of the chantry church of the college. The church was aligned east-west and lay within a level area of land, of irregular shape, terraced into the natural ground slope. The buried remains of the college are more extensive and are believed to extend throughout the terraced area, the southern part of which is currently occupied by a large house. The tower is constructed of dressed and coursed rubble utilising local slate, brownish in colour, with greenish coloured quoins. It stands to a height of about 25 metres, in three stories, the lower of which is equal in height to the two upper stories together. It is square in plan with an octagonal stair turret forming the south west corner, and with massive diagonal buttresses, set back steeply above the first storey, projecting from the other four corners. It is decorated with two moulded string courses and has numerous putlog (scaffolding) holes. At ground level the overall dimensions of the tower are some 9.2 metres square. The walls are up to 1.2 metres in thickness, enclosing an interior space of 3.75 metres square. The tower is entered on its east side through a high pointed arch that spans the entire east wall, and which originally linked the tower with the nave of the church. The ground floor room had a groined vault of which only the springing survives in the north-west and south-west corners. The entrance to the stair turret is in the south west corner. In the west wall there is a large window with a pointed arch and internal splays. At some point the wall below the window was removed to form a large entrance passage through the tower which has subsequently been completely blocked. The stair turret gives access to the upper floors and the roof; it is lit by five small rectangular windows evenly spaced in its south west face. The upper rooms are each lit by four windows, one in each wall. The windows have pointed arches and internal splays, and some retain fragments of moulded stone. In the south and east faces the windows are not in vertical alignment, and the lower windows have been modified into rectangular openings. The beams supporting the floor of the upper room were secured by socket holes and corbels located in the north and south walls. The upper room has a small plain rectangular fireplace set within the north wall to the east of the window. Around the top of the tower there is a complete row of substantial moulded corbels projecting from the walls between the buttresses. These appear to have formed the base of a machicolated parapet. The stair turret is higher than the walls and contains a door to the parapet. The top of the turret also has a course of projecting corbels and a steep stone spire. The internal faces of the walls of the upper room narrow-in at a steep angle, either to create a wider parapet walk or to support a stone spire. It is evident that the tower was not intended to be a standard church tower in that the upper rooms were constructed as apartments, and the top appears to have included a machicolated parapet. The tower was also constructed independently of the church; it is entirely free-standing and devoid of any wall scars to show where it was structurally bonded to the nave. The line of the roof of the nave however, is visible as a deep chasing in the east wall of the tower and across the east faces of the adjoining buttresses. Both buttresses have a small niche set into their east faces just below the chasing. Other details: Monument 24844.

National Monuments Record, 2011, 445861 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV346575.

Tower and Chantry, both built circa 1372. Former parish and collegiate church with college of St Mary, dissolved in 1545. Some 18th century additions to the Chantry building.

English Heritage, 2011, Historic Houses Register (List of Blds of Arch or Historic Interest). SDV346128.

Tower of Collegiate Chantry of St Mary in Slapton was Listed on 26th January 1967. West tower of collegiate chantry church built circa 1372 or 3 of dressed and coursed slate rubble. Tall square tower about 80 feet high in three stages with stringcourses, diagonal buttresses with set-offs at the corners and a polygonal stair turret on the south west corner with a corbel table and a very small stone spire. The main tower also has corbels but the parapet above is missing. Lancets at the ringing stage and slightly larger pointed arch openings to the bell stage above. The large west window below has been converted into an archway and blocked later. The tall arch on the east side to the former nave has a dressed stone 2-centred arch and weathering above where the nave roof joined. The stair turret has small window slits. All the dressed and moulded stone from the windows has been removed but inside the moulded rib springing of the vault to the first stagesurvives. The roof is missing. Other details: LBS Number 99900.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4483 - Slapton Parish Churchyard Survey
• EDV4491 - Watching Brief at Slapton Ley Field Centre

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