Description

CHALE

SZ47NE ST CATHERINE'S HILL
1353-0/5/81 Tower of St Catherine's Oratory

II

Former lighthouse, now Ancient Monument. Early C14. Built as a
penance by the local landowner Walter de Godeton for disposing
of the cargo of Church wine belonging to the monastery of
Lives in Picardy, when the Saint Marie was wrecked on
Atherfield Ledge in the Parish of Shorwell in 1314. The tower
was built as a lighthouse to prevent further wrecks and there
was originally an oratory chapel with a monk whose job was to
trim the light and say masses for those lost at sea. After the
Reformation the church fell into ruins and had disappeared by
the C18, but buttresses were added to the tower then to keep
it standing as a seamark. Restored by P G Stone in 1891 and by
the then Ministry of Works in 1950. Built of ashlar. 4
storeys, octagonal without and square within with 4 buttresses
and a pyramidal stone roof, domed on the inside. Pointed
doorways on ground and first floors which originally
communicated with the Priest's dwelling and the Chapel
respectively, and loop lights on ground, first and second
floors. The top storey has 8 windows splayed outwards to emit
light from the brazier which formed the beacon. Stairs and
floors now missing. A rare survival of a medieval lighthouse.
Locally nicknamed "the Pepper Pot " because of its shape and
its conjunction with the remains of the C18 lighthouse to the
south east in the adjoining Parish of Niton which is known as
"the Salt Cellar". (see item ) Scheduled Ancient Monument.
(V.C.H.: 235).

Listing NGR: SZ4936477278

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Catherine's Oratory at Wikipedia
• St Catherine's Oratory official website
• Wikidata Q7587435

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)