Monument record MDO1578 - Priests chamber and toll bridge, Lyme Regis

Priests Chamber & Chapel (NR) (Site of) (NAT) <1>

During the demolition of two cottages at the bridge that crosses the Lym in 1913, indications of an ecclesiastical building were discovered. On the south abutment of the western arch of the bridge was a chamber measuring 20ft x 191/2ft. There were indications of a lower chamber extending to river level but the vertical extent was alone indicated by a sill or cornice of worked stone. In the south wall was an arched recess suggestive of an aumbry, whose opening measured 27 inches vertically and horizontally and the removal of plaster from the N wall revealed a carved oak framework. With regard to period the aumbry is strongly suggestive of 12th or early 13th century, contemporary with the eastern and older arch of the bridge. Further the materials correspond. The wooden tracery belongs to a late 13th or 14th century period. The chamber was probably a Priest's cell or chamber for collecting tolls or dues for the Abbot of Sherborne. The stone and tracing have been reconstructed in the museum. <2>

No trace of the building is now to be seen, nor any remains of the former bridge. The arch is on view in the Lyme Regis Museum and it is described as "Stones of Aumbry from chapel on bridge, 12th Century?" <3>

Wooden tracery from the chapel, drawn in Wyatt Wingrave's paper {2} can also be seen in Lyme Regis Museum, where it is mounted on a wall in one of the ground floor rooms. The stones from aumbry arch of the chapel are stored in the museum cellar.

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1931 edition OS map (Map). SWX1540.

<2> Wingrave, W, 1922, Priest's Chamber on Lyme Regis Bridge. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 41-43 (Article in serial). SDO10708.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1923, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for 1921-1922 (Serial). SDO14054.

<3> Swatridge, G C, Various, Field Investigators Comments GCS, F1 GCS 11-FEB-55 (Unpublished document). SWX1169.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 449807 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 11:38AM