Summary

Foundations of a medieval chapel, first recorded in the 14th century, set on a small level outcrop on the summit of Roughtor.

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Description

The foundations of a medieval chapel of St Michael are set on a small area of level outcrop on the summit tor of Roughtor.

This chapel is first recorded in the 14th century. Sir Hugo Peverelle, Lord of the Manor of Hamatethy, was granted a licence for a chapel of St Michael on 1st September 1371; a further licence is recorded in 1419 (and 1455 - Bousfield 1988,49) and the chapel is mentioned in 1478 by William of Worcester (Henderson 1924, 59). According to Maclean, writing in 1873, much of the stonework from the building was removed to Trevillian's Gate in 1836, so that only the foundations of the chapel remained. Cut stones at Trevillian's Gate, said to be from the Roughtor chapel, are illustrated by Malan in 1886. (Although the OS suggest that these could have come from Launceston Priory rather than the chapel.) In 1936, Malim noted that the remains of two small rectangular buildings could be seen on top of Roughtor but `it is impossible to say what the building has been'. He also mentions further fragments at Penpont, Altarnun and Temple Church that may have come from the chapel.

It is suggested by Adams that the purpose of St Michael's Chapel may have been to provide a beacon to guide travellers: the chapel overlooks a trackway over the moro whose antiquity and significance was noted by Maclean (1873, 376). Other chapels of St Michael in Cornwall had exactly this function: for example, Chapel Carn Brea in St Just in Penwith (Pool 1964; Hague 1968; Adams 1968); St Michael's Chapel on Rame Head (Thomas 1993), St Michael's Mount (Herring 1993), and Helsbury Beacon near Camelford and St Michael's Chapel on Roche Rock (Adams 1957, 58-9). Most acted as sea-lights but the chapels at Roche and Helsbury are inland. A beacon would probably have been maintained by a hermit (as at Chapel Carn Brea and possibly Rame Head) and on Roughtor the hermit may have lived either in the chapel or in the small building just below the summit (91755, CAU PRN 3382.)

The chapel on Rame Head forms a particularly interesting parallel to Roughtor for it too is first recorded in the late 14th century and, measuring 6.52m x 2.96m internally, it is of remarkably similar size. As it still stands entire it gives a good idea of what the Roughtor Chapel would have looked like. The Rame Chapel had an arched doorway on the north side and single lancet windows in the north and south walls. The east window may have been a two-light lancet and there appears to have been a small rectangular window high in the west wall. The chapel still retains its original stone-vaulted roof (Thomas 1993).

Of the collection of carved stones allegedly from the Roughtor chapel none is securely provenanced. For example, it is uncertain how a column would even have fitted into such a tiny building and the window is most likely to have come from a secular context. Three of the fragments are granite arches. Each is carved with a fleur de lys which is said to be a modern addition. While one or possibly even two arches might have been accommodated in the chapel (an arch of similar shape exists at Helsbury) it is unlikely that three would have been needed!


For some reason, the OS 6 inch map marks the site of the chapel incorrectly at SX1451 8072 - in virgin rough pasture to the south-west of the summit of Roughtor. This error was corrected and the chapel described by the RCHME in 1985-86.

All that remains of the chapel now are walls 0.2 to 0.3m high and 0.8m thick, built of small granite blocks with a gravelly growan mortar. They enclose a building of trapezoidal plan oriented east-west and measuring 6.2 by 2.9m internally. The slightly irregular shape is caused by the outcrop and cairn (91731, CAU PRN 3381.2) over which it is built. A gap of 3.1m in the north wall probably once incorporated a doorway.

The chapel was probably enclosed by a 9m square yard of which only the east and north boundaries survive. The eastern is a neatly built turf-covered wall 0.7m wide and 0.2 to 0.3m high; the northern is a stone bank 1.7m wide and 1.5m high. Access is now generally from the north-east, but may originally have been from the south also, for a rough path and two well cut steps provide an easy route to the base of the 9m high cliff (and thence to the remains of a small building - 91755, CAU PRN 3382 - which may have been associated with the chapel).

Incised into the flat top of an outcrop immediately south-east of the chapel is a simple cross with roughly equal-length limbs about 5cm long. This has only recently been noticed (P. Herring, pers. comm.)

A memorial to the 43rd Wessex Division (91759) has been constructed in the south-east corner of the chapel. Archaeological Comments - Site:91754*0 Large scale (1:100) survey showing the building and eroded areas is required: the existing 1:1000 survey is inadequate, both for understanding the structure and for monitoring erosion. The newly discovered cross should be shown on the plan.

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