The Chapel of St. Mary

The Chapel, which dates from about 1450, was formerly the chancel of the ancient church of Chitterne St. Mary, which was partly demolished in 1861 when the two Chitterne churches were amalgamated. It is now used as a mortuary chapel. Although the old church had little architectural merit and was mostly hidden by an old tithe barn (where Birch Cottage now stands), the chapel in it's own right is a pleasing, well proportioned structure of chequered limestone and flint with a tiled roof. On the east side there are three wall tablets of the late 18th or early 19th century to the Huntley and Wheeler families.

The interior is simple, with rendered walls and flagstone floor. Some fragments of Medieval stained glass from the old All Saints Church have been incorporated into the windows. There is a 15th century canopied tomb, without effigy or inscription in the south-east window and two memorial tablets on the west wall. One, of stone with floral and scroll decoration and a marble inscription panel, is to Samuel Biggs (q.v.) and the other also of stone with reeded pillasters, to Ann Sanders. Two graves in the floor are of Johannes Dowland and Elizabeth Morris.

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