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Summary

Site of the Chapel of St Nicholas bounded on the east by the Vicarage Court or front garden, on the north by The Vicarage and on the south by the street.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX86SW/54

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CHAPEL (Unknown date)

Full description

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, SX86SW23 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV350498.

Visit on 16/8/1951. No further information.

Rea, C. F., 1923, Totnes in Bygone Days (Un-published). SDV337093.

Visit in 1923. Site of Chapel of St Nicholas. There is a deed dated 1511 conveying a piece of land measuring 33 feet by 16 feet the empty site of the Chapel of St Nicholas bounded on the east by the Vicarage Court or front garden, on the north by The Vicarage and on the south by the street. This is clearly 63 Fore Street.

Laithwaite, M. and Henderson, C.G., 1985, Early Owners and Occupants of 61-5 Fore Street, Totnes, 66 (Article in Serial). SDV350509.

The site of No. 63 Fore Street was formerly occupied by St. Nicholas' Chapel. This appears to have gone by 1511 as a Court Roll for that year refers to a vacant plot of ground.

Davison, A. and Henderson, C.G., 1985, Excavations at Fore Street, Totnes, 1984-85, 61, Fig. 38 (Article in Monograph). SDV340327.

Near the street frontage a small trench was excavated next to the side wall of the 19th century vicarage which revealed a short length of clay-bonded stone wall footing at least 0.65 metres which was constructed after 1200. This substantial foundation must have belonged to a building of some quality. This could have been a dwelling house, but another possibility is that the foundation was the western wall of St Nicholas’s Chapel, noted in 1511 as having formerly occupied a then vacant lot measuring 16 foot by 33 foot on the section of the street frontage where 63 Fore Street now stands.

Youngs, S. M. + Clark, J. + Barry, T., 1986, Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1985, 114-198 (Article in Serial). SDV24583.

Excavations by Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit demonstrated that by the 15th century the plot now occupied by numbers 61-63 Fore Street contained the Vicarage and St Nicholas's Chapel. In the 11th and 12th centuries, this tenement was circa 40 metres long, and bounded on the north by successive ditches perhaps associated with a hedge. In the 13th century, the plot was extended to circa 75 metres long, taking in land probably belonging to Totnes Priory, and a dovecote was erected. Map object also based on this source.

Ordnance Survey, 2012, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV348725.

Pink, F., 2014, Devon Extensive Urban Survey Project. Rapid Assessment of Archaeological Interventions (Report - non-specific). SDV357343.

An excavation was undertaken at 61-65 Fore Street, Totnes by the Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit in 1985.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6636 - Excavation, 61-65 Fore Street, Totnes

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