Belford Chapel of St Mary (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Chapel Crag

In the civil parish of Belford.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of Northumberland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NU10463449
Latitude 55.60415° Longitude -1.83604°

Belford Chapel of St Mary has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

An account of 1725 refers to the ruins of a chapel called St. Mary's. It was probably domestic to the Muschamp family, Robert de Muschamp's chaplain being mentioned in 1220. The foundations about 60ft by 21ft are visible at the edge of Chapel Crag, placed on a natural elevation of rock about 60 yds square, and 8ft high (Bateson 1893).
The rectangular plan is still visible in the form of turf-covered foundations 0.4m high (F1 RDL 23-JAN-64). (PastScape)

These are the earthwork remains of a medieval chapel called St Mary's. It was probably built by the Muschamp family. The foundations are about 20m by 7m and can be seen on the edge of Chapel Crag on a natural elevation of rock. It appears to be surrounded by an earth bank. (Keys to the Past)

Comments

According to Tomlinson this chapel had been fortified, or enclosed, 'by some high mounds', although it has apparently been built within existing prehistoric earthworks. Certainly the position is defensible and it commands an excellent view of the coast, although its history is obscure. In the survey of 1415, there is named a 'Castrum de Belfurth' belonging to one Dom de Dacre, which by 1509 was recommended for a garrison by 40 horsemen; this may have been this site or, more probably, Westhall Tower.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1006515, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number nd285
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 7680.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N5112.

Books
- Brooke, C.J., 2000, Safe Sanctuaries (Edinburgh; John Donald) p. 71-2
  Pevsner, N. et al, 1992, The Buildings of England: Northumberland p. 162
  Bateson, Edward (ed), 1893, Northumberland County History (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) Vol. 1 p. 366, 372-4 online copy
  Bates, C.J., 1891, Border Holds of Northumberland (London and Newcastle: Andrew Reid) p. 12, 23 (Also published as the whole of volume 14 (series 2) of Archaeologia Aeliana view online)
  Tomlinson, W.W., 1888, Comprehensive Guide to Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 445
  Hodgson, J., 1820, A History of Northumberland Part 3 Vol. 1 (Newcastle-upon-Tyne; John Hodgson) p. 27
Periodical Articles
- Hodgson, J.C., 1916, 'List of Ruined Towers, Chapels, etc., in Northumberland; compiled about 1715 by John Warburton, Somerset Herald, aided by John Horsley' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser3) Vol. 13
  Bates, C.J., 1891, 'Border Holds of Northumberland' Archaeologia Aeliana (ser2) Vol. 14 p. 12, 23 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Northumberland County Council, 2009, 'Belford' Northumberland Extensive Urban Survey doi:10.5284/1000177 download copy

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The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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