Description

ROCHE
SW 95 NE
5/222 Chapel of St Michael at Roche Rock
-
1O.2.57
I

Chapel. Licensed 1409. Squared dressed granite.
Plan: has the appearance of a 3-stage tower, with a lower room for a chaplain and
the chapel above. The chapel is built on the side, near the top of a massive jagged
outcrop of schorl and the floor of the lower room is the rock.
The east front has a moulded string courses, at the first stage no windows, the 2nd
stage has a small single light with trefoil head, moulded granite jambs and lintel
with voussoirs. The 3rd stage has large 2-centred arched window with moulded jambs
and relieving arch. Upper gable end. On the south side, there is a 4-centred arches
doorway to the chaplain's room, with roll-moulded surround.
Interior The floor between the chaplain's room and the chapel has been removed; at
the upper level to north is a small window with flat lintel.
St Michael's Chapel is of outstanding landscape value. The site would have been:
chosen for its isolation, and as particularly suitable for a dedication to St
Michael; now, no longer used as a chapel, and without a roof, it has also assumed the
qualities a romantic folly. The combination of the jagged rock face and the dressed
granite forms an architectural unity, whether it is viewed as a mediaeval chapel or
as a romantic ruin.
Ancient monument no, 191.

Listing NGR: SW9910859617

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529597

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

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper