Listed Building record MDO47259 - Little Bindon, West Lulworth

Little Bindon, originally a 13th century chapel, reroofed in the 15th century, and now a private dwelling. Adjoining is a cottage, which it is suggested, was formerly a priests house.

Little Bindon, a single -storeyed rectangular building, in part with semi-attics; built in the 13th century. The east part formed a chapel, re-roofed circa 1500, but altered in modern times although long disused for ecclesiastical purposes. The south east and north west corners of the chapel appear to be undisturbed 13th century work but the rest has been rebuilt with the addition of later buttresses. The east wall is gabled and has a parapet repaired in modern brickwork rising from re-used 12th century kneelers. <2>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1903 (Map). SWX1540.

(SY 83057987) Little Bindon formerly (NAT) Chapel (NR)

<2> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 151-2 (Monograph). SDO148.

'(2) Little Bindon (830798) is a single-storey building, in part with semi-attics, of stone rubble and with a tiled roof. The Cistercian abbey of Bindon was founded here in c. 1150 but removed to a different site in 1172 (see Wool, Monument 3). The present building was erected close to the original abbey site in the 13th century. The E. part formed a chapel, re-roofed c. 1500, which has been repaired and altered in more modern times though long disused for ecclesiastical purposes; the W. part has been modernised as a cottage.

The building is a simple rectangle on plan including chapel and cottage separated by a stone cross wall. The S.E. and N.W. corners of the chapel appear to be undisturbed 13th-century work but the rest has been rebuilt with the addition of later buttresses. The E. wall is gabled and has a parapet repaired in modern brickwork rising from reused 12th-century kneelers, one carved with the bearded and crowned face of a man, the other with the face of a monster. Reset in the E. wall is a 13th-century lancet window with chamfered jambs and head; the other windows are of 13th-century lancet shape but all the dressings are in brick, probably of the 18th century. The doorway to the chapel is original with chamfered jambs and continuous two-centred head. The ceiling forms a four-centred plaster barrel vault divided by timber ribs into twelve panels, probably of c. 1500. Six shields-of-arms at intersections of the ribs described in Hutchins (I, 441) have been removed; they had been added by the Welds, who bought the property in 1641, and included their own shield and crest. A piscina S. of the altar is recorded in Hutchins (ibid.). The cottage retains no old features.'

<3> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 445 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 455100 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 23 2024 3:51PM