Possible site of early 14th century chapel, St Helen's Chapel, Cromwell Hill (EHER 7738)

Now destroyed. Land and money for the building of this chapel was bequeathed in the will of John Padgett in 1529, but there is no further reference to this chapel and it is not known whether it was ever built. It is possible that it was erected at the end of the 1520s and the beginning of the 1530s, only to immediately fall victim to the Reformation.

The Free Chapel of St. Mary at Maldon, was extant in 1437. Land was bequeathed for the building of this chapel in 1529. The actual site of the chapel is not known locally. <1> <2> Apparently the chapel lay halfway down Market Hill, with a hermitage attached. <3> The only written reference to St Helen's Chapel is in the will of John Padgett (1529) when he left money towards the costs of the construction of St Helen's Chapel. There is no further reference to this chapel and it is not known whether it was ever built. However the presence of the place-names, St Helen's Lane, St Helen's Cross[roads] and St Helen's Well for the area now known as Cromwell Hill, suggest that it may have been sited beside the road there. It is possible that it was erected at the end of the 1520s and the beginning of the 1530s, only to immediately fall victim to the Reformation. <4> NRHE data transfer: October 1976. Field visit. The site of these two chapels was not known locally. No further information obtained from the County Records. <5>