Chisbury Chapel

Although used as a barn for the last three centuries, this fine medieval chapel was originally constructed by the lord of Chisbury Manor to assert his high social status. It allowed the household of the manor, as well as local people, to attend services and pay their taxes without having to travel to the parish church at Great Bedwyn.

Although the building ceased to be used as a consecrated chapel in 1547, visitors to Chisbury will be rewarded with a pretty thatched and flint-walled construction, whose original function is still clearly visible today.

There are two vertical lines within the plaster of the side walls that mark where the rood-screen – a timber partition surmounted by a cross – once separated the altar from the nave. There is also a red cross. Crosses were painted on the walls of a church during the consecration ceremony, marking the religious status of the building.