Odda's Chapel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Odda's Chapel |
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| Chapel of the Holy Trinity | |
Odda's Chapel (left) and Abbot's Court (right)
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| OS grid reference | SO86902984 |
| Location | Deerhurst, Gloucestershire |
| Country | England, UK |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | Odda's Chapel |
| History | |
| Status | chantry |
| Founder(s) | Earl Odda |
| Dedication | Holy Trinity |
| Consecrated | 12 April 1056 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | disused |
| Heritage designation | Grade I listed |
| Designated | 4 July 1960 |
| Style | Anglo-Saxon |
| Years built | 11th century |
| Completed | 1056 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | rubble masonry with squared quoins |
Odda's Chapel is a very old building in Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, England. It was once a special chapel where prayers were said for someone's soul. This chapel was built in the 1000s, in the Anglo-Saxon style. It was finished about ten years before the Normans took over England.
In the 1500s, the chapel stopped being used for church services. By the 1600s, it had become part of a farmhouse. People found it again and fixed it up in the late 1800s and then again in the 1900s. Today, English Heritage looks after it.
Odda's Chapel is the smaller of two old Anglo-Saxon churches in Deerhurst. The other one, St Mary's Priory Church, is bigger and older. Both buildings were part of a Benedictine priory, which was a monastery for monks. The area where the monastery stood is now a protected historical site.
Chapel Design
The chapel has a main hall, called a nave, and a smaller prayer area, called a chancel. These two parts are connected by a rounded arch, which is typical of Romanesque style. There is also another smaller rounded arch that forms a doorway on the north side of the chapel. The main hall has small windows placed high up on its north and south walls.
Chapel History
Earl Odda had this chapel built to honor his brother Ælfric, who passed away on December 22, 1053. It was also built so that prayers could be said for Ælfric's soul. Ealdred, who was the Bishop of Worcester, officially opened the chapel as a church on April 12, 1056.
Chapel Changes
Because of big changes in the church in England, known as the English Reformation, the chapel could no longer be used for its original purpose. In the 1540s, Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI stopped places like this from being used for special prayers.
In the late 1500s or early 1600s, the chapel building was used as part of a wooden farmhouse called Abbot's Court. This farmhouse was built right next to the chapel's east wall. The main hall of the chapel was turned into a kitchen. An upstairs floor was added in the prayer area. Regular house windows were put into the north and south walls of the prayer area. Over time, people forgot how old the building was or that it was once a chapel.
Odda's Stone
In 1675, Sir John Powell, an important person who owned land nearby, found a stone slab near Deerhurst. Sir John was smart enough to read the old Latin writing from the 1000s on the stone. This writing talked about the chapel's official opening. However, the chapel itself was still not recognized.
The writing on the stone says: "Earl Odda ordered this royal hall to be built and dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity for the soul of his brother Ælfric, taken up from this place. Ealdred was the bishop who dedicated the building on the second day before Ides of April in the fourteenth year of the reign of Edward, king of the English".
This special stone, known as "Odda's Stone," is now kept in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. There is a copy of it inside the chapel.
Finding and Fixing the Chapel
In 1865, Rev. George Butterworth, who was the local church leader for St Mary's parish church in Deerhurst, figured out something important. He used an old book from Tewkesbury Abbey and the information from Odda's Stone. He realized that there must have been a special chapel in Deerhurst. Then, in 1885, while people were fixing Abbot's Court, they found an old Anglo-Saxon window hidden behind plaster.
In 1960, the Ministry of Works made the chapel a Grade I listed building. This means it is a very important historical building that needs to be protected. In 1965, the chapel was carefully separated from the Abbot's Court farmhouse. Work then began to fix its roof. Old photos show that even though most of the roof was from the 1600s, there was an older design from the 1000s or 1100s. This older part might have been from the chapel's original roof.
Since the 1970s, people have done several archaeological digs at Deerhurst. Some items found during the 1981 dig, led by Philip Rahtz, are now in the Tewkesbury Museum.
