St Patrick's Chapel, Heysham

St Patrick's Chapel

Part of the group of six rock-cut tombs

St Patrick's Chapel, Heysham is a ruined building which stands on a headland above St Peter's Church, Heysham, Lancashire, England (grid reference SD409616). It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.^[1]

Description

The ruin dates from the 8th or 9th century, and is built of sandstone rubble.^[1] The plan is a plain rectangle measuring 27.5 feet (8 m) by 9 feet (3 m).^[2] Consolidation work was carried out in 1903 using stone tiles. Most of the south wall, the east gable wall, and the east part of the north wall are still present. The south wall contains a doorway with long-and-short jambs and an arch with concentric grooves.^[1] Near the chapel is a group of six rock-cut tombs and a separate group of two rock-cut tombs. Each group is listed Grade I and each tomb has an associated socket probably intended for a timber cross.^[3][4]

Archaeology

In 1977 an excavation took place in and to the south of the chapel, which dated the site to the late 6th or early 7th century. The buried skeletons uncovered were dated as no earlier than the 10th century. A further excavation took place in April 1993 on land below the stone coffins. No human bones were found but more than 1,200 artefacts were recovered, which showed that the site had been occupied about 12,000 years ago.^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Images of England: Chapel of St Patrick, Heysham, English Heritage, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=1&id=391833, retrieved 2008-04-29 
2. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002) [1969], The Buildings of England: North Lancashire, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, pp. 141–142, ISBN 0 300 09617 8 
3. ^ Images of England: Rock-cut tombs (6), English Heritage, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=1&id=391835, retrieved 2008-04-29 
4. ^ Images of England: Rock-cut tombs (2), English Heritage, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=1&id=391834, retrieved 2008-04-29 
5. ^ St Peter's History, St Peter's Heysham, http://www.heyshamparish.org.uk/hp/p_history.pdf, retrieved 2008-04-29 

Coordinates: 54°02′51″N 2°54′10″W / 54.04747°N 2.90269°W / 54.04747; -2.90269