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Summary

Documentary evidence for a chapel from before the 12th century, which was ruinous and removed in 1770, its materials going to build another house

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 01794.00.000
  
• National Monuments Record No.: SU 56 NE 36
  

Monument Type(s):

• CHAPEL (12th century to 18th century - 1101 AD? (pre) to 1770 AD (pre))

Full Description

An anecdotal 1969 Newbury District Field Club address about the villages in the Pang Valley <1> noted that Chapel Row is named after a chapel which stood at the top of the hill leading down to Bucklebury Church, and that a small thatched cottage was on the site of this former chapel. However no precise location was given for this cottage. A building marked on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map <2> near the brow of the hill is named as 'Jewells Thatch' on the Fifth Edition OS <3> and might perhaps be a candidate for the thatched cottage.

No former site of a chapel is marked on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map <2> for Chapel Row, and none is shown schematically on Rocque's map <4>.

The chapel giving its name to the settlement seems to have been built prior to the 12th century <5>. It was known as the Magdalen Chapel, and its decay apparently led to the building of Marlston Chapel by Geoffrey Martel, lord of the manor in the 12th century. However, the Chapel Row building was still in existence though in ruins in 1770, when the materials were sold and used to build a house in which a Rev Dr Coxe was living in 1803 <5>.

The GIS point is therefore approximate, but is close to Chapel Row Farm and Jewells Thatch.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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