Site of possibly 13th century chapel and cemetery, 'St John The Baptists Chapel', Chapel Hill (EHER 6407)

Site of former chapel that lay south of the Bishop of London's manor house and the parsonage. A Chantry Chapel was founded on or near the site of the old St Michael' Church in around 1214 with the first recorded mention in 1364. It was confiscated in 1550 and later turned into cottages and the burial ground into a garden. An oil painting of 1849 shows part of the chapel still standing and there was a foot of foundation in existence in around 1893. Its site eastward is shown by the cottages which occupy its place (cottages are shown on the site on OS 6" 1881 and 1898). The tracery of a Perpendicular window of three lights was taken to the vicarage garden in about 1893.

Site of former chapel that lay south of the Bishop of London's manor house (see EHER 6409-6410) and the parsonage. According to Kenworthy (<1>) the remains survived until the middle of the 19th century. In 1849 they were painted by James Sargeant. Kenworthy states that the painting showed 'a view of the part of the chapel then standing, showing the west end with a triplet of three equal lancet lights surrounded by a triangle all moulded with stone, the body of the wall of flint rubble - a high pitched gable and angle buttresses. All this has now [1893] disappeared except a foot of the foundation'. He further stated that tracery from a three-light perpendicular window had 'recently' been removed from the chapel site and also that the chapel had been 'abandoned to ruin after being secularised by being turned into cottages and the burial ground into a garden, (human) bones are every day dug up in the soil'. From the description, the chapel would be 13th century or earlier in origin. A substantial cemetery seems to be indicated by Kenworthy's record of bones and also from earlier mentions by Cunnington. In 1833 he noted the finding of human bones during gravel-digging. In 1911 Kenworthy (<2>) mentions finding skeletons in the Albion works area. In 1937, 'a skull, found in around 1900 in digging foundations for houses on Chapel Hill, was given to Colchester Museum. There was apparently no sign of a coffin. The site, curiously, should lie to the east of Chapel Hill; there are no houses of that date on the west side'. The chapel is almost certainly to be equated with the free chapel of St John the Baptist in Great Rayne, first mentioned in 1364 (<3> and <4>) and still in use in 1511 (<5>). 'Chapel Hill was the site of an estate of the Bishop of London from Saxon times and of a settlement also (see EHER 6414). It is likely that a church would have been provided and it is therefore likely that such an early churchyard and the later chapel are one and the same. 'That this early church became the parish church of Great Rayne when 'Raines' evolved into two distinct parishes is suggested by the location of the Parsonage House nearby'. With the foundation of Braintree in 1199 and its later development the church here became the parish church and the church on Chapel Hill became a chapel. Probably early 20th century photographs in the Essex Record Office shows masonry from the chapel 'used to form an ornamental screen in the garden of Blandford House, London Road'. <1> - <11> Skeletons from the graveyard were dug up in the Albion Works area. <12> 'The situation at Chapel Hill is confusing: there was the original parish church, a medieval chantry chapel and an episcopal palace, the exact sites of all of which are unclear, although part of the chapel (converted to cottages) still survived in the 19th century. The Bishop of London had an estate here at least from 995'. <13> See also <14> - <18>. Site Assessment: 'Clearly, an interesting archaeological complex which needs investigation, as and when opportunities arise in development'. <13> NRHE data transfer: St John the Baptist's Chapel (NR) (Site of). <19> 'Before the coming of the Normans, Braintree became again a Catholic centre. It was probably about this time that its first chapel was built, near the present Albion Works. This chapel gave its name to the present day Chapel Hill.' <20> January 1950. Field survey. Many skeletons have been uncovered in recent years whilst digging footings for additional factory buildings here. Although this is thought to be the chapel grave-yard, to my knowledge, no foundations of the chapel have so far been uncovered. <21> <22> <23> A Chantry Chapel was founded on or near the site of the old St Michael' Church circa 1214 with the first recorded mention in 1364. It was confiscated in 1550 and later turned into cottages and the burial ground into a garden. An oil painting of 1849 shows part of the chapel still standing and there was a foot of foundation in existence circa 1893. Its site eastward is shown by the cottages which occupy its place (cottages are shown on the site on OS 6" 1881 and 1898). The tracery of a perpendicular window of three lights was taken to the vicarage garden in about 1893. <1>