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Summary

Site of the 14th cloister of the Collegiate Church at Ottery St Mary

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: 448803
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SY09NE/13/16

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• CLOISTER (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Full description

Dalton, J. N., 1917, The Collegiate Church of Ottery St Mary, 21 (Monograph). SDV102603.

Other details: Plan.

Weddell, P. J., 1987, Devon Religious Houses Survey: Ottery St Mary, 9 (Report - Survey). SDV366679.

Dalton (1917) produced plans of the buildings based on an inventory of 1545 (see Map 6). The cloister walk was covered with a lead roof, described as 54ft (16.46m) long and 18ft (5.49m) wide. This suggests perhaps that the walk was 9ft (2.74m) wide as the whole area of the cloister garth would not have been roofed. Dalton places the cloister to the west of the chapter house, south of the nave and south of the south porch, assuming this to be contemporary. The location of the cloister on the south side of the church is based on that at Exeter Cathedral, although it is noted that there does not appear to be enough room for a cloister on the north side.

Passmore, A. J., 2005, Archaeological recording in the graveyard of the church of St Mary, Ottery St Mary (Report - Watching Brief). SDV336583.

A watching brief undertaken in 2005 found a wall aligned east to west 0.4 metres below the surface in one of the 6 pits excavated around St Mary's parish church. The wall was constructed of flint nodules and rubble sandstone bonded in lime mortar. No dressed stones were visible in the exposed masonry. The wall was interpreted as the northern wall of the north cloister walk and lies on the line of the wall predicted by Dalton.

Passmore, A., 2006, Archaeological Recording in the Graveyard of The Parish Church of Ottery St Mary, 2005, 343-347 (Article in Serial). SDV344670.

Part of the cloister wall was located in a pit close to the south tower, one of six excavated around the church to house new copper base plates for the lightening conductors. Fragments of medieval earthenware floor-tile were also recovered from this and another pit near the south porch. These are thinner than the 13th century tiles reset in the retroquire against the back of the reredos within the church and must, therefore, derive from a different source and suggest a medieval tilery somewhere in the Otter valley.

National Monuments Record, 2010, 448803 (National Monuments Record Database). SDV344669.

Cloisters of the secular college at Ottery St. Mary, constructed during the 14th century, demolished circa 1545. Other details: NMR Number: SY09NE28. Record last updated: Unknown..

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV4011 - Archaeological Recording in the Graveyard of the Church of St Mary, Ottery St Mary
• EDV2416 - Devon Religious Houses Survey

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