Buildings of Ludlow
2. St. Thomas's Chapel, Dinham
1. Old Gate House, Old Street, Ludlow
2. St. Thomas's Chapel, Dinham
1. Old Gate House, Old Street, Ludlow
2. ST. THOMAS’S CHAPEL IN DINHAM
Jonathan Wood, historian, one-time Ludlow Town Guide and former Chairman of Ludlow Historical Research Group (LHRG) delivered a talk and power-point presentation on Dinham and St. Thomas’s Chapel at the conference, Facets of Ludlow in 2011. Organised by Jonathan and fellow-members of the then LHRG, it took place at Ludlow Assembly Rooms and commemorated the life and achievements of Dr. David Lloyd MBE, historian, author and Ludlovian.
St. Thomas’s Chapel is situated in Dinham, and may be the oldest building in Ludlow apart from the castle. Much of what follows in this abridged version of Jonathan’s presentation has been documented, but some aspects are speculative and must remain so until archaeology tells us otherwise.
DINHAM
When discussing the town’s origins, many writers have surmised that Dinham was a proto-township, created by the Normans as a preface to the laying out of Ludlow in the C12. I start from an opposite standpoint, namely that it would be very surprising if there hadn’t been a settlement here before the Conquest.
And what better photograph than one of Dinham as it was 100 years ago.
(Click on any photograph to enlarge).
Jonathan Wood, historian, one-time Ludlow Town Guide and former Chairman of Ludlow Historical Research Group (LHRG) delivered a talk and power-point presentation on Dinham and St. Thomas’s Chapel at the conference, Facets of Ludlow in 2011. Organised by Jonathan and fellow-members of the then LHRG, it took place at Ludlow Assembly Rooms and commemorated the life and achievements of Dr. David Lloyd MBE, historian, author and Ludlovian.
St. Thomas’s Chapel is situated in Dinham, and may be the oldest building in Ludlow apart from the castle. Much of what follows in this abridged version of Jonathan’s presentation has been documented, but some aspects are speculative and must remain so until archaeology tells us otherwise.
DINHAM
When discussing the town’s origins, many writers have surmised that Dinham was a proto-township, created by the Normans as a preface to the laying out of Ludlow in the C12. I start from an opposite standpoint, namely that it would be very surprising if there hadn’t been a settlement here before the Conquest.
And what better photograph than one of Dinham as it was 100 years ago.
(Click on any photograph to enlarge).
The name of Dinham could easily be Saxon, the suffix ham indicating a settlement, whilst the variations of Dinan or Dynan are Early Welsh, a diminutive of din, meaning ‘a fortified hill, a fort’. The fact that Ludlow Castle was built on such an impressive, naturally defensive position was unlikely to have been ignored by our forebears.
It may well have been fortified since at least the Bronze Age, i.e. 800 BC.
The origins of Christ Croft, the garden of No. 12 Dinham, were a substantial filled-in trench of uncertain antiquity that runs north/south between Camp Lane and Dinham. It may have been named after the Austin Friars, who occupied the site before moving to a permanent one at Lower Gailford in 1256, but it was described as a fossatum, a defensive ditch, as early as the mid-C13. It could be the remains of a pre-Conquest defence that originally ran the full width of the natural promontory on which the castle now stands, dug to defend the vulnerable eastern approach of Saxon Dinham. Make no mistake, it was a substantial earthwork. Christ Croft has a breadth of some 50 ft.
On the other hand, it could have been the work of the Normans, their classic ridge-end design, excavated to defend the castle”s exposed eastern flank before the outer bailey was built in the 1170s. Wigmore has a similar feature and there are other examples. So the jury is out on this one.
Then there is the matter of Josce de Dinan, who held Ludlow for some 20 years between 1137 and 1157, during the Stephen/Matilda civil war. He defended the town in the 1140s on behalf of the Empress but lost out to the barons and Gilbert de Lacy. His tenure is chronicled in the Fitzwarine Romance, a prose version probably written in the first half of the C14 in Latin, French and English. Based on a now lost French verse in the latter half of the C13, it records events that took place a 100 years before. Part history, part fable, the Romance tells us that “for a long time the town was called Dynan”, pointing, perhaps, to a pre-Conquest past. It also spuriously suggested that Josce took his name from the place: in fact he was so called because the family came from Dinan (Di-na) in Brittany. A more recent history has it that Dinham was named after him. I would like to suggest that the names of Dinham and Dinan are purely co-incidental.
The crossing point at Dinham Bridge was crucial to the origins of Dinham. Although the road on the western bank is today a minor highway, this was far from always being the case, running as it did from Central Wales. The eastern bank would have been a natural location for a settlement to have sprung up flanking a trackway that led to the fortified place that may have been located at the top of the hill. From there it would have gone on to join up with the one-time Roman road, today”s Old Street and Corve Street.
It may well have been fortified since at least the Bronze Age, i.e. 800 BC.
The origins of Christ Croft, the garden of No. 12 Dinham, were a substantial filled-in trench of uncertain antiquity that runs north/south between Camp Lane and Dinham. It may have been named after the Austin Friars, who occupied the site before moving to a permanent one at Lower Gailford in 1256, but it was described as a fossatum, a defensive ditch, as early as the mid-C13. It could be the remains of a pre-Conquest defence that originally ran the full width of the natural promontory on which the castle now stands, dug to defend the vulnerable eastern approach of Saxon Dinham. Make no mistake, it was a substantial earthwork. Christ Croft has a breadth of some 50 ft.
On the other hand, it could have been the work of the Normans, their classic ridge-end design, excavated to defend the castle”s exposed eastern flank before the outer bailey was built in the 1170s. Wigmore has a similar feature and there are other examples. So the jury is out on this one.
Then there is the matter of Josce de Dinan, who held Ludlow for some 20 years between 1137 and 1157, during the Stephen/Matilda civil war. He defended the town in the 1140s on behalf of the Empress but lost out to the barons and Gilbert de Lacy. His tenure is chronicled in the Fitzwarine Romance, a prose version probably written in the first half of the C14 in Latin, French and English. Based on a now lost French verse in the latter half of the C13, it records events that took place a 100 years before. Part history, part fable, the Romance tells us that “for a long time the town was called Dynan”, pointing, perhaps, to a pre-Conquest past. It also spuriously suggested that Josce took his name from the place: in fact he was so called because the family came from Dinan (Di-na) in Brittany. A more recent history has it that Dinham was named after him. I would like to suggest that the names of Dinham and Dinan are purely co-incidental.
The crossing point at Dinham Bridge was crucial to the origins of Dinham. Although the road on the western bank is today a minor highway, this was far from always being the case, running as it did from Central Wales. The eastern bank would have been a natural location for a settlement to have sprung up flanking a trackway that led to the fortified place that may have been located at the top of the hill. From there it would have gone on to join up with the one-time Roman road, today”s Old Street and Corve Street.
Dinham Bridge, predecessor to the present one built in 1823. In the foreground is the ancient ford that remained in use until 1794.
This view of Dinham Bridge dates from 1786, with Dinham Gate in the background. So if there was a pre-Conquest settlement, why does Dinham not appear in Domesday Book? I believe the reason is that much of Saxon Dinham was swept away when the Castle was begun by Walter de Lacy in the 1070s.
Below is a section of recently discovered town wall in the garden of Dinham Lodge. It was built in the 1360s to keep the Welsh at bay. It adjoins the site of Dinham Gate, a medieval postern gate with a chamber over an arched entrance through the town wall, which faced towards Wigmore and Wales. One of seven entrances to the town, it indicates the presence of an existing highway.
Below is a section of recently discovered town wall in the garden of Dinham Lodge. It was built in the 1360s to keep the Welsh at bay. It adjoins the site of Dinham Gate, a medieval postern gate with a chamber over an arched entrance through the town wall, which faced towards Wigmore and Wales. One of seven entrances to the town, it indicates the presence of an existing highway.
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St. Thomas's Chapel
If you walk up the road from the site of the Dinham Gate, you will see the remains of a chapel dedicated to St. Thomas.
But does the building date from the late C12 as the wording suggests, or could it be earlier?
If you walk up the road from the site of the Dinham Gate, you will see the remains of a chapel dedicated to St. Thomas.
But does the building date from the late C12 as the wording suggests, or could it be earlier?
Below is the side view of the Chapel, if you are taking the road from town to Dinham Bridge. I suspect I”m not alone in thinking “what a curious place to build a church……” There doesn”t seem to be any rhyme or reason to its location. However, if you view it from Dinham Bridge, its position begins to make rather more sense. To the left, facing a hostile Wales, are the west wall and towers of Ludlow Castle, and the Chapel is roughly in line with them. So was its positioning dictated by some defensive role from the marauding Welsh?
I believe it was and that it adjoined a now lost gate which was far earlier in date than the town wall that encircled Ludlow from the mid-C13.
So what is the evidence for such a structure? Firstly, local tradition. In his book, Ludlow Town & Neighbourhood, published in 1888, Oliver Baker wrote: “The road from Dinham Bridge approaches the town through a narrow passage between high rubble walls, and at its upper end was Dinham Gate…”
Note that Baker places it in the higher reaches of the road, not its familiar location close to Dinham Bridge. Ludlow historian Henry Weyman agreed. In Ludlow in Bygone Days (1913) he wrote, “It is very possible…there was an inner gate at the corner of Camp Lane and that in later days the Chapel may have been used as a Gatehouse Chapel.”
A Ludlow Corporation lease of 1661 reads “All that messuage or tenement..and one room over the gate called Dinhams Gate thereunto adjoining and all that chapel or building called Dinhams Chappell…”
By this time the Chapel had been in the Corporation’s ownership for 200 years. Like Christ Croft, it was on demesne land owned by the manorial lords of Ludlow which in 1461 passed to the Corporation when the town became a Parliamentary Borough.
The location of such a building adjoining a town gate was commonplace in the Middle Ages. In visual terms a chapel was intended to give the impression of spiritual protection, in a practical ome to encourage the donation of gifts from travellers. Such juxtaposed buildings first appeared in the C9 or C10. Is this a pointer to the site’s Saxon origins? The photo below is the church of St. Mary at Caernarfon adjoining one of the towers of the town wall. But it does give an idea of what we may have had at Ludlow.
I believe it was and that it adjoined a now lost gate which was far earlier in date than the town wall that encircled Ludlow from the mid-C13.
So what is the evidence for such a structure? Firstly, local tradition. In his book, Ludlow Town & Neighbourhood, published in 1888, Oliver Baker wrote: “The road from Dinham Bridge approaches the town through a narrow passage between high rubble walls, and at its upper end was Dinham Gate…”
Note that Baker places it in the higher reaches of the road, not its familiar location close to Dinham Bridge. Ludlow historian Henry Weyman agreed. In Ludlow in Bygone Days (1913) he wrote, “It is very possible…there was an inner gate at the corner of Camp Lane and that in later days the Chapel may have been used as a Gatehouse Chapel.”
A Ludlow Corporation lease of 1661 reads “All that messuage or tenement..and one room over the gate called Dinhams Gate thereunto adjoining and all that chapel or building called Dinhams Chappell…”
By this time the Chapel had been in the Corporation’s ownership for 200 years. Like Christ Croft, it was on demesne land owned by the manorial lords of Ludlow which in 1461 passed to the Corporation when the town became a Parliamentary Borough.
The location of such a building adjoining a town gate was commonplace in the Middle Ages. In visual terms a chapel was intended to give the impression of spiritual protection, in a practical ome to encourage the donation of gifts from travellers. Such juxtaposed buildings first appeared in the C9 or C10. Is this a pointer to the site’s Saxon origins? The photo below is the church of St. Mary at Caernarfon adjoining one of the towers of the town wall. But it does give an idea of what we may have had at Ludlow.
The church of St. Mary at Caernarfon.
If the original Dinham Gate adjoined the chapel, what was the structure that is now known as Dinham Gate called. The answer, I believe, lies in another Corporation lease, dating from 1669, which refers to “Castle Mill Gate”; there is an earlier reference in 1603. I would like to suggest that when the original Dinham Gate was demolished Castle Mill Gate was so re-named.
There is a further piece of evidence in the Fitzwarine Romance. Whilst this document must be treated with caution, it recounts an attempt by Gilbert de Lacy to wrest the Castle from Josce de Dinan in the 1140s, i.e. “they, (De Lacy”s knights) opened the gates of Dynan over towards the river and let in their men.” This sounds to me very much like the original Dinham Gate which could have formed part of the outer defences of the Castle. If this incident took place, it would have occurred over 100 years before the town wall was built.
And lest there be any doubt of the dedication of the Dinham Chapel to Thomas Becket, a number of contemporary references are in locals wills. The earliest dates from 1304, whilst one of 1410 refers to John Mershon, who left £10 “to the Brothers of the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr in Dinham.” This suggests a small religious community was also located there.
There is a further piece of evidence in the Fitzwarine Romance. Whilst this document must be treated with caution, it recounts an attempt by Gilbert de Lacy to wrest the Castle from Josce de Dinan in the 1140s, i.e. “they, (De Lacy”s knights) opened the gates of Dynan over towards the river and let in their men.” This sounds to me very much like the original Dinham Gate which could have formed part of the outer defences of the Castle. If this incident took place, it would have occurred over 100 years before the town wall was built.
And lest there be any doubt of the dedication of the Dinham Chapel to Thomas Becket, a number of contemporary references are in locals wills. The earliest dates from 1304, whilst one of 1410 refers to John Mershon, who left £10 “to the Brothers of the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr in Dinham.” This suggests a small religious community was also located there.
The murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, occurred on 29 December 1170, the tragic culmination of his six years of quarrels with King Henry II. Becket was canonised in 1173, and 80 churches throughout England were to be dedicated to him. It is probable that the Dinham chapel was dedicated during the first half of the C13, after Becket's remains were moved from their tomb in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral to Trinity Chapel above it and a golden shrine encrusted with precious stones.
Of course, it could have been earlier. Hugh de Lacy, son of Gilbert, who ousted Josce de Dinan from Ludlow, died in 1186. He might have wanted to ingratiate himself with Henry II, who held Ludlow between 1177 and 1189.
The chapel remained in use until 1538 when Henry VIII denounced Becket's martyrdom. But it was briefly revived during the reign of Catholic Mary Tudor and in 1557 the Corporation “made up the altar there”.
Later the chapel’s dedication was forgotten, indeed Oliver Baker lamented, “Scarcely anything is known of its history…” although the OS Survey map of Ludlow of 1885 shows the chapel.
I believe the chapel is a far older structure than its dedication to Thomas Becket suggests. If there was a Saxon Dinham, it could have been the site of a wooden place of worship, if post-Conquest it may have served as a parish church before St. Laurence’s was completed and became the gatehouse chapel to the now missing gate that was part of the Castle’s defences.
When we look at this building it will be apparent that we are contemplating a fragment of a much larger structure. I believe the answer to what survives today lies on the opposing side of the road to the chapel. You will see on this early C19 map of Ludlow a bite appears to have been taken out of the highway.
Of course, it could have been earlier. Hugh de Lacy, son of Gilbert, who ousted Josce de Dinan from Ludlow, died in 1186. He might have wanted to ingratiate himself with Henry II, who held Ludlow between 1177 and 1189.
The chapel remained in use until 1538 when Henry VIII denounced Becket's martyrdom. But it was briefly revived during the reign of Catholic Mary Tudor and in 1557 the Corporation “made up the altar there”.
Later the chapel’s dedication was forgotten, indeed Oliver Baker lamented, “Scarcely anything is known of its history…” although the OS Survey map of Ludlow of 1885 shows the chapel.
I believe the chapel is a far older structure than its dedication to Thomas Becket suggests. If there was a Saxon Dinham, it could have been the site of a wooden place of worship, if post-Conquest it may have served as a parish church before St. Laurence’s was completed and became the gatehouse chapel to the now missing gate that was part of the Castle’s defences.
When we look at this building it will be apparent that we are contemplating a fragment of a much larger structure. I believe the answer to what survives today lies on the opposing side of the road to the chapel. You will see on this early C19 map of Ludlow a bite appears to have been taken out of the highway.
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This, I think, reveals the original line of the track that ran from the Dinham river crossing to the site of the Norman keep of Ludlow Castle.
There is a consensus amongst modern historians, and I believe a correct one, that St. Thomas’s Chapel as you see it today is the surviving chancel, complete with its arch, of a one-time church. But the stumbling block to this theory is that there is no room for the nave as the road is too close to its western end.
However, I do believe that the present line of the road is a re-alignment and the original thoroughfare ran far closer to what is now Dinham Lodge. The recess lines up perfectly with the curve of Camp Lane, necessitating a sharp left hand turn at its junction with the way from the river. This meeting of these two highways was, I believe, the position of the now lost original Dinham Gate.
Moving the line of the road would not have only reduced this acute turning, dismantling the gate would have improved traffic flow to and from the ford. It would also have provided the house that predated Dinham Lodge with a frontage.
When was this work undertaken? I suspect at some time between 1661, the date of the lease I quoted earlier, and 1719, for reasons that will become apparent.
The foundation of the boundary wall of Dinham Lodge contains blocks of ashlar, i.e. cut stones: I believe these came from the demolished nave of St. Thomas’s Chapel. Are there more fragments? One always has to be cautious, but this example of Gothic stonework survives today in the rockery of Dinham Cottage which adjoins the Chapel.
There is a consensus amongst modern historians, and I believe a correct one, that St. Thomas’s Chapel as you see it today is the surviving chancel, complete with its arch, of a one-time church. But the stumbling block to this theory is that there is no room for the nave as the road is too close to its western end.
However, I do believe that the present line of the road is a re-alignment and the original thoroughfare ran far closer to what is now Dinham Lodge. The recess lines up perfectly with the curve of Camp Lane, necessitating a sharp left hand turn at its junction with the way from the river. This meeting of these two highways was, I believe, the position of the now lost original Dinham Gate.
Moving the line of the road would not have only reduced this acute turning, dismantling the gate would have improved traffic flow to and from the ford. It would also have provided the house that predated Dinham Lodge with a frontage.
When was this work undertaken? I suspect at some time between 1661, the date of the lease I quoted earlier, and 1719, for reasons that will become apparent.
The foundation of the boundary wall of Dinham Lodge contains blocks of ashlar, i.e. cut stones: I believe these came from the demolished nave of St. Thomas’s Chapel. Are there more fragments? One always has to be cautious, but this example of Gothic stonework survives today in the rockery of Dinham Cottage which adjoins the Chapel.
Gothic stonework in the garden of Dinham Cottage.
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Blocks of ashlar in the boundary wall.
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If this engraving of 1719 is to be believed, there wasn’t much of the chapel left, apart from three free-standing walls. Sketched by Sutton Nicholls in the South West Prospect of Ludlow, the publication contains many inaccuracies. Nevertheless, it is of interest because it shows the house that was demolished before Dinham Lodge was built, and Dinham House is depicted before its extra wings were added in 1748. Above all, there is no sign of the original Dinham Gate, which would appear to have disappeared by 1719.
Much more accurate is the detail from Vogelsanck and Lens’ panoramic view of Ludlow of 1722. It shows the outline of the two-storey chapel and its easterly extension, much as it is today, although roofless. It also depicts a tower in the south wall of the Castle’s outer bailey that collapsed in the C19.
This part of the Castle’s outer defences was unstable and prone to collapse. A pub, The Hole in the Wall, had occupied the site of Dinham Hall Hotel in the C17 and C18, and the wall again succumbed in 1990. A pointer to the presence of the archaic Christ Croft ditch, perhaps?
51 years after Vogelsanck completed his painting, in 1773 the Chapel makes an appearance in the minutes of Ludlow Corporation. On 19 March that year it granted a lease for “all that Chappell in Dinham to Duncan Campbell…to consent to build a Dwelling house or houses on the part where the chapel now stands.”
By this time, the building was being used as a stable.
Much more accurate is the detail from Vogelsanck and Lens’ panoramic view of Ludlow of 1722. It shows the outline of the two-storey chapel and its easterly extension, much as it is today, although roofless. It also depicts a tower in the south wall of the Castle’s outer bailey that collapsed in the C19.
This part of the Castle’s outer defences was unstable and prone to collapse. A pub, The Hole in the Wall, had occupied the site of Dinham Hall Hotel in the C17 and C18, and the wall again succumbed in 1990. A pointer to the presence of the archaic Christ Croft ditch, perhaps?
51 years after Vogelsanck completed his painting, in 1773 the Chapel makes an appearance in the minutes of Ludlow Corporation. On 19 March that year it granted a lease for “all that Chappell in Dinham to Duncan Campbell…to consent to build a Dwelling house or houses on the part where the chapel now stands.”
By this time, the building was being used as a stable.
Vogelsanck and Lens’ panoramic view of Ludlow of 1722.
Nos. 11 and 12 Dinham.
Campbell was an architect-cum-property developer, assistant to Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, who worked with him on Ludlow Guildhall around the corner in Mill Street. In 1771 he had bought land nearby, demolished the existing properties and built this pair of fine Georgian houses on the site, today 11 and 12 Dinham.
However, Campbell overreached himself, and was declared bankrupt in 1779.
Campbell's plans for Dinham Chapel would, similarly, have meant demolishing the building to redevelop the land. But his scheme never came to fruition. The chapel remained extant, because exactly seven months after he took over the lease, on 19 October 1773, he passed it on to Thomas Johnes, who was to be its saviour.
Johnes would have known the Chapel well. A member of the local landed gentry, he was born in 1748 across the road at Dinham House. His father, also Thomas, had married Elizabeth Knight, daughter of Richard Knight and resident at Croft Castle. Pritchard also undertook work for him there which is how Johnes junior may have known Campbell or he could have encountered him in Ludlow.
Educated at Shrewsbury, Eton and Oxford, Thomas Johnes was a man of culture with a passion for the picturesque, inspired by his cousin, Richard Payne Knight’s enhancement of his estate at Downton. This featured a composed but ‘natural’ parkland. In architectural terms, the movement led to an appreciation of medieval asymmetry, in reaction to the symmetry of Georgian buildings.
A Gothic chapel exactly filled the bill and in later years Johnes would build such a mansion at Hafod in Cardinganshire. I feel that we have him to thank for not only saving the building but also for ‘Gothicising’ much of it to the state in which it appears today.
I suspect that his work in transforming the building into a Picturesque ruin was confined to the ground floor of the former chancel because in about 1780 another character enters the story. Edward Meyricke, whose family had been associated with
Ludlow since at least the C16, and by then a London haberdasher, built Dinham Lodge on the land directly opposite the chapel.
However, Campbell overreached himself, and was declared bankrupt in 1779.
Campbell's plans for Dinham Chapel would, similarly, have meant demolishing the building to redevelop the land. But his scheme never came to fruition. The chapel remained extant, because exactly seven months after he took over the lease, on 19 October 1773, he passed it on to Thomas Johnes, who was to be its saviour.
Johnes would have known the Chapel well. A member of the local landed gentry, he was born in 1748 across the road at Dinham House. His father, also Thomas, had married Elizabeth Knight, daughter of Richard Knight and resident at Croft Castle. Pritchard also undertook work for him there which is how Johnes junior may have known Campbell or he could have encountered him in Ludlow.
Educated at Shrewsbury, Eton and Oxford, Thomas Johnes was a man of culture with a passion for the picturesque, inspired by his cousin, Richard Payne Knight’s enhancement of his estate at Downton. This featured a composed but ‘natural’ parkland. In architectural terms, the movement led to an appreciation of medieval asymmetry, in reaction to the symmetry of Georgian buildings.
A Gothic chapel exactly filled the bill and in later years Johnes would build such a mansion at Hafod in Cardinganshire. I feel that we have him to thank for not only saving the building but also for ‘Gothicising’ much of it to the state in which it appears today.
I suspect that his work in transforming the building into a Picturesque ruin was confined to the ground floor of the former chancel because in about 1780 another character enters the story. Edward Meyricke, whose family had been associated with
Ludlow since at least the C16, and by then a London haberdasher, built Dinham Lodge on the land directly opposite the chapel.
Edward Meyricke built Dinham Lodge.
Meyrick’s new property did not include a coachhouse and it would seem that he took over the lease from Johnes. Meyrick converted the one-time chancel into a coachhouse and transformed the space above into accommodation for his coachman.
The stone extension was converted into a stable and a brick hay loft with a door on the first floor built above it. The building was crowned by a cupola, which also housed a dovecote. Meyricke died in 1798 and the coachhouse is mentioned in his will. It seems likely that when this work was underway the ground in the immediate area was disturbed. William Felton’s guide to Ludlow of 1821 records that, a little to the south of Dinham House, are ‘”the remains of a chapel” with “a very curiously construction (western) arch - and a great number of human bones have been dug out of the earth about it.”
The stone extension was converted into a stable and a brick hay loft with a door on the first floor built above it. The building was crowned by a cupola, which also housed a dovecote. Meyricke died in 1798 and the coachhouse is mentioned in his will. It seems likely that when this work was underway the ground in the immediate area was disturbed. William Felton’s guide to Ludlow of 1821 records that, a little to the south of Dinham House, are ‘”the remains of a chapel” with “a very curiously construction (western) arch - and a great number of human bones have been dug out of the earth about it.”
 The chapel and its cupola.
Fenton also records that local tradition accorded the building’s dedication to St. Mary, a popular name for gatehouse chapels, which could have predated its association with Becket.
The Meyricke family continued to use the chapel for some years but by the time the Hereford painter George Reynolds Gill executed this charming watercolour of the building in 1892, it had become Edward Bodenham’s furniture store. You can just see some of the south wall of the building and the oldest part of the structure which is not readily apparent from the road. |
St. Thomas's Chapel, 1892, George Reynolds Gill.
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St. Thomas's in the 1940s.
The chancel looking east.
This blocked ogee-headed cusped lancet window dates from the C13.
The coachman's room above the chancel.
Access to the dovecote.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3. Tympanum at Aston Eyre.
Figure 4 - another example of Thomas Johnes handiwork?
Figure 5 - the original C13 arch.
Figure 6.
Figure 7.
Figure 8 - the blind arch on the north side of the Chapel.
Figure 9 EM for Edward Meyricke.
Figure 10. Mason's marks in the stonework.
Figure 11. Quadripartite Gothic vaulting.
Figure 12. Fountains Abbey.
Figure 13 may be an authentic C12 window in the north wall.
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 The Chapel in 1905
Let’s have a closer look at the building. This view dates from 1905 and I’ll be considering the doorway and blacked apertures later. You can see the external stairway that provided first floor access for the coachman and the chimney for his stove. The brick upper storey of the hayloft, with its absence of windows and slits to permit some ventilation, are readily apparent.
To bring our story up to date, following the death in 1941 of Henry Weyman, who had leased Dinham Lodge from the Meyricke family, it became the offices of Ludlow Town Council. In 1943 the chapel was converted into the town morgue when Benjamin Wheale was paid £140 to clear the stabling from the eastern end and whitewash the interior of the one-time chancel. Subsequently, in 1952, the Council bought Dinham Lodge. It already owned the chapel, by then being used as a garage, and continued to occupy the offices until its abolition in 1967. Its successor, Ludlow Rural District Council, sold the Lodge in 1969, but retained the chapel building. The chance; looked east, and was used as a store. I’ll have something to say about the window, the vaulting and the stonework later on. This is the former stable in the early 1970s, looking west towards the eastern wall of the chancel. This blocked ogee-headed cusped lancet window dates from the C13 and suggests that the easterly extension is of a later date, otherwise the window could not have let the light in. The coachman’s rather Spartan room is above the chancel, complete with fireplace. The crudely executed tracery in the western window is made of wood. There was no ceiling but access to the dovecote in the cupola. By now, the chapel was in a semi-derelict state, despite having been accorded Grade II* status in 1954. To his great credit, Fred Reeves, history master at Ludlow Grammar School, took it on himself to lobby a receptive Ellis Shaw, the Council’s Engineering Surveyor, to restore the building and transform it into a house. It could then be let to provide an income although later, in 20001, it was sold to the present owner. The conversion was assigned to the Council’s Senior Architectural Assistant, David Riley, and the work completed in 1974. In the previous year of 1973, a small excavation was undertaken at the western end of the building. There north/south walls 2’6” wide, believed to be part of the nave, were uncovered. According to notes made at the time, the nave was six inches wider than the chancel and the walls were about the same width, which suggests they were of a similar date. I have been unable to trace the report that accompanied this excavation, and would be interested to know if there was one? Now let’s have a look at the building in detail. It’s rather like a Fitzwarine Romance in stone, trying to decide what’s genuinely medieval and what is a spurious C18 enhancement. I was heartened that the Very Rev David Cranage, author of the magisterial ten-volume work on Shropshire churches, in 1912 described the building as “extremely puzzling”. Over the years, historians have not agreed about St. Thomas’s Chapel. So what follows is by no means definitive. Figure 1 shows the south of the property before the present extension was built in 2003. You will see four notable features: three blocked apertures and a door. We can dispose of the first-floor window fairly easily. This and the matching two on the north side date from Meyricke’s coachhouse conversion but the lower ones are rather more challenging. I believe the doorway on the left (Figure 2) is original. On the assumption that we are looking at the chancel of the church, it would have been the priest’s door and dates, I think, from the first half of the C12. But its proportions are more Saxon than Norman. The stones are mainly Old Red Sandstone and Whitcliffe Beds. However, the blocked window to the right is, I think, the work of Thomas Johnes and a copy of the authentic door. The crescent-shaped recess is reminiscent of that used to house a tympanum. But those were positioned directly above a door lintel, as here at Aston Eyre, so I feel this is another example of Johne’s handiwork. (Figures 3 and 4) At the west end is what I believe to be the original C13 chancel arch, despite what the current Pevsner says! Apart from the fact that it looks ‘right’, further reasons will become apparent once we enter. (Figures 5 and 6). Figure 7 shows how the stone has been cut to accommodate the gate) On the inside left of the building is the blind arch on the north side of the Chapel, which infers the existence of a transept. This, I would like to suggest, is another instance of a copy of the original at the west end, which should be credited to Thomas Johnes. (Figure 8) There are subtle differences between the two, the north arch has a drip moulding with a feathered edge, unlike the west one that has a distinctly flat face. There is evidence that the north western corner of the building has been rebuilt, it contains some bricks, and parts of the string course have been replaced. I’m grateful to Duncan James for these observations. Figure 9 shows the east end of the building. You can see the initials EM, for Edward Meyrick,in the original stone wall of the window aperture, so there’s no doubting the authorship. In addition, the stones contain masons’ marks that are found throughout the interior, the signature, if you like, of the craftsmen who built the original church. (Figure 10) One of the more notable features of the interior is the quadripartite Gothic vaulting although it has lost the cells that would have provided the infill. You can see from this photograph of Fountains Abbey what the originals would have looked like. (Figures 11 and 12). My guess is that the cells were removed when the floor above was inserted for the coachman’s room. You can see that bricks have been added on the upper faces of the ribs to support it. Figure 13 may be an authentic C12 window in the north wall, remember there is a blind arch on the other side. You will notice the curved line of an apparent arch on this wall. In fact it echoes the outline of the stone cells, as ashlar was retained for public view. The rubble at its extremities would have been concealed behind the vaulting. My thanks to Bridget Cherry for pointing this out to me. This is similarly apparent on the eastern wall. The window, another genuine feature, dates I think from the C15. So there you have it, one of Ludlow’s most fascinating buildings which still poses many unanswered questions. I would be interested to hear from anyone with comments or alternative thoughts. Jonathan Wood. Jonathan Wood (b.1945) has researched and written about the history of the world’s motor industry all his working life and has over 40 published books. Educated at Reading Blue Coat School, he served his journalistic apprenticeship on the Reading Chronicle and Reading Mercury newspapers before becoming assistant editor on Car Mechanics magazine. In 1973 he was a founder member and features editor of Classic Car, the first international magazine to chronicle the history and restoration of post Second World War automobiles. A full-time writer since 1981, his work is recognised on both sides of the Atlantic. The centenary of the birth of the British motor industry fell in 1996 and Jonathan Wood was involved in two publishing projects that were timed to coincide with the anniversary. He was the principal contributor to Britain’s Motor Industry The First Hundred Years (Haynes, 1996) for which the entire editorial team received the Montagu Trophy. His second involvement, as author, editor and picture researcher, was for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ official commemorative publication, The Motor Industry of Britain Centenary Book (Eclat, 1996). He is a two times winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Montagu Trophy and its Pierre Dreyfus Award, presented by Renault, for outstanding journalistic effort. He has thrice won the US-based Society of Automotive Historians’ prestigious Cugnot Award for works on the decline of Britain’s motor industry, artist-engineer Ettore Bugatti and the Squire sports car, which also received the RAC Motoring Book of the Year Specialist Book Award of 2016. His book on Rippon, a Yorkshire coachbuilder, won the Antique Automobile Club of America’s Thomas McKean Memorial Cup and an SAH Award of Distinction. In 2021 his book on Aston Martin LM10 received The Society of Automotive Historians in Britain’s Michael Sedgwick Award and the Mercedes-Benz Award for the Montagu of Beaulieu Trophy through the Guild of Motoring Writers. Married, with children and grandchildren, Jonathan lives in The Merchant House in Corve Street, Ludlow, Shropshire, with his wife, Rosemary. He is a former Chairman of Ludlow Historical Research Group, was a Town Guide, and has delivered several lectures and power-point presentations on local history. He recently sold the 1928 Austin that inspired his first book. 
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1. Old Gate House, Old Street, Ludlow |
OLD GATE HOUSE, OLD STREET, LUDLOW
In 2010, Mike and Pam Beazley bought the Old Gate House. Below is Mike's account of its history.
Old Gate House - The Building and its Occupants.
Old Gate House is a four bay medieval building with a half-timbered frame built into the Ludlow town wall. The wall, completed in 1296, is up to six feet thick and consists of Whitcliffe stone facings with a rubble filled interior. The stone is Silurian calcareous mudstone and shale, 423 million years old. It has only ‘seen action’ twice: when Ludlow was sacked by the Lancastrians after the Yorkist forces fled from the Battle of Ludford Bridge in 1459, and during the Parliamentarian siege of Ludlow in 1646.
The eastern bay of the house, adjacent to Old Street, was originally a square stone tower which formed part of the Old Street gate. The gate was originally composed of square towers adjoining the wall with half-round towers in front and a portcullis arch between them. There was a drawbridge over the town ditch, a gate and a portcullis. The ditch was filled in during the C17 and now forms the courtyard of Old Gate House and the adjacent St John’s Road Park. What is now the dining hall was the guard room for the gate, with a door onto Old Street where the window is now, an embrasure for the guard where the bread oven is now and a door into the half-round tower where the front door is now. The timbers in the dining hall have been dated to around 1300.
The building passed into the hands of the Palmers’ Guild in 1392. It was later extended westwards along behind the wall. The timber frame has been dated by dendrochronology to 1441/2. The roof structure consists of tie-and-collar-beam construction with large raking queen-struts and large carved wind-braces. The ground floor beams at the western end have lambs-tongue end stops, which are typical of the period. There is later reference to ‘the solar above Old Gate’ being leased as accommodation for members of the Council of the Marches. This was probably the first floor of the two eastern bays, which were probably open to the roof at first floor level. There are the remains of a series of arrow slits in the outer wall of the top storey. These would have been the only windows at the time. Between 1472 and 1517, the building was leased to a number of people including John Turnor (a retired Chaplain of the Palmers Gild), William Martyn, William Smyth, John Egeley and John Bell. In 1525 it was ‘in decai’, but by 1549 it was back in use, leased to Thomas Wheeler for 12/4d. He was Low Bailiff in 1537, MP in 1539 and 1552 and High Bailiff in 1541 and in several later years.
Ludlow Corporation took it over in 1572 when they renewed his lease for the same amount. Subsequent tenants were Griffith Nawle, Edward Gregory and Edward Berry, at the same rent until 1657. Thereafter it was let to John Philips, Gent. for 13/4d (one mark) plus an extra 2/- per annum to keep pigs in what is now the Old Gate House garden above the town wall. In 1664 John Philips also took over the rent of the ‘lyme pitts’ in what is now the park, for a further 2/- per annum. In 1667, Richard Weigham, a tanner who became Low Bailiff in 1671, leased the house and what is now the courtyard as ‘tan pitts’. His widow took over the lease in 1679 for 15/4d plus an extra 2/- for the tan pits.
In 1676, Thomas Lane died. He was estate manager to Sir Job Charlton and a wealthy man in his own right. He left part of his estate to his wife, but the rest in trust to Sir Job, Sir Thomas Walcott and John Holland for them to dispose ‘to some charitable use or uses according to their best discretions as it shall please God to direct them’. Frances, his widow, withheld some of the money due to the trustees and Sir Job and his partners siphoned off part of the rest for their own use. This led to the Attorney General making a complaint to the High Court of Chancery in 1679 on behalf of the people of Ludlow.
Eventually after a long legal battle involving several witnesses including Anne Hinton, wife of Thomas Hinton, a Ludlow baker who was the High Bailiff at the time, Thomas Lane’s widow inherited the goods and chattels and in 1681 the Corporation inherited what is now called Lane’s House for charitable use. This is the half-timbered house next to Old Gate House, with a date of 1621 on a plaque on the dormer gable. Most of the frame is C16, but the date of the timbers in the gables matches the date on the plaque. It replaced an earlier medieval building on the same site.
Ludlow Corporation decided to join Old Gate House and Lane’s House together to create a ‘Poor House’ and ‘House of Correction’. They directed the Chamberlain, Richard Cole, in 1682 to make repairs and join up the buildings ‘at a cost of £10 or £12’. This included installing windows in the north wall (two of which have since been moved from the sitting room to overlooking the library on the first floor). The newly joined-up building remained the Ludlow Poor House until 1837 when the Corporation built the new Union Workhouse on Gravel Hill (now Ludlow Hospital). During that time, up to 38 people were housed there. In addition, ‘the lunatyk poor’ were housed in sheds in what is now the courtyard. The tan and lime pits were filled in to create a garden, where they kept first goats and then (from 1773) cows. A woollen manufactory was set up in 1776 to give work to the inmates in what are now 52 and 54 Old Street. The half-round tower attached to Old Gate House was demolished at the same time. The half round tower on the other side of Old Street formed part of the Mug House Inn, later the Dog Inn, where cock fighting was held in the Inn yard. It was demolished in 1822.
The Poor House was run by the Parish from 1743. They appointed and paid a number of Masters including Samuel Whittley, his widow Mary, William Holland and John Gould. The Master was paid from £52 10/- in 1747 to £200 in 1776 and this covered all the costs of ‘care, maintenance, support and clothing’ and latterly of running the manufactory. The metal framed windows in the south and west walls were added in 1767. The town stocks were outside the front of the building. In 1837 the contents were sold; all the beds went in a job lot for £2, being very bug-ridden.
From 1837 to 1966, the old Poor House became ‘Lane’s Asylum’, an almshouse for widows of the town, in the trust of the Ludford estate (the heirs of Sir Job Charlton). In 1861, the inhabitants were Mary Jones (the Matron), her two sons and six inmates (Sarah and Elizabeth Lewis, Mary Leadbetter, Hannah Price, Elizabeth Tipton and Elizabeth Wilkes). Several of them were still living there in 1871, when Elizabeth Tipton was 95. The asylum closed in 1966 when the trust ran out of money and the building was in disrepair.
Ludlow Corporation sold the whole building to Beatrice Thompson in 1966. In 1971 it was bought by Ken Gilbert, who in 1981 divided it back into two houses (Old Gate House and Lane’s House). He also added the attic dormer windows. Ken Gilbert lived in Old Gate House until 1985 when he sold it to Alan Papier, who ran an acupuncture clinic in the outbuilding in the courtyard.
Patrick and Judi Beautement bought the house in 1999 and embarked on a major restoration, stripping the house back to its bones. They discovered the portcullis hidden in the wall of the library. This was probably the one installed in the Old Gate before the portcullis arch was demolished by the Royalists during the siege of Ludlow in 1646, so that they could fire their cannon down Old Street. It may even be the original C13 century portcullis.
John and Glenys Nash bought the house in 2002 and made a number of further sensitive modernisations including installing the oak staircases and building the garden room. They sold it to Pam and Mike Beazley in 2010.
In 2010, Mike and Pam Beazley bought the Old Gate House. Below is Mike's account of its history.
Old Gate House - The Building and its Occupants.
Old Gate House is a four bay medieval building with a half-timbered frame built into the Ludlow town wall. The wall, completed in 1296, is up to six feet thick and consists of Whitcliffe stone facings with a rubble filled interior. The stone is Silurian calcareous mudstone and shale, 423 million years old. It has only ‘seen action’ twice: when Ludlow was sacked by the Lancastrians after the Yorkist forces fled from the Battle of Ludford Bridge in 1459, and during the Parliamentarian siege of Ludlow in 1646.
The eastern bay of the house, adjacent to Old Street, was originally a square stone tower which formed part of the Old Street gate. The gate was originally composed of square towers adjoining the wall with half-round towers in front and a portcullis arch between them. There was a drawbridge over the town ditch, a gate and a portcullis. The ditch was filled in during the C17 and now forms the courtyard of Old Gate House and the adjacent St John’s Road Park. What is now the dining hall was the guard room for the gate, with a door onto Old Street where the window is now, an embrasure for the guard where the bread oven is now and a door into the half-round tower where the front door is now. The timbers in the dining hall have been dated to around 1300.
The building passed into the hands of the Palmers’ Guild in 1392. It was later extended westwards along behind the wall. The timber frame has been dated by dendrochronology to 1441/2. The roof structure consists of tie-and-collar-beam construction with large raking queen-struts and large carved wind-braces. The ground floor beams at the western end have lambs-tongue end stops, which are typical of the period. There is later reference to ‘the solar above Old Gate’ being leased as accommodation for members of the Council of the Marches. This was probably the first floor of the two eastern bays, which were probably open to the roof at first floor level. There are the remains of a series of arrow slits in the outer wall of the top storey. These would have been the only windows at the time. Between 1472 and 1517, the building was leased to a number of people including John Turnor (a retired Chaplain of the Palmers Gild), William Martyn, William Smyth, John Egeley and John Bell. In 1525 it was ‘in decai’, but by 1549 it was back in use, leased to Thomas Wheeler for 12/4d. He was Low Bailiff in 1537, MP in 1539 and 1552 and High Bailiff in 1541 and in several later years.
Ludlow Corporation took it over in 1572 when they renewed his lease for the same amount. Subsequent tenants were Griffith Nawle, Edward Gregory and Edward Berry, at the same rent until 1657. Thereafter it was let to John Philips, Gent. for 13/4d (one mark) plus an extra 2/- per annum to keep pigs in what is now the Old Gate House garden above the town wall. In 1664 John Philips also took over the rent of the ‘lyme pitts’ in what is now the park, for a further 2/- per annum. In 1667, Richard Weigham, a tanner who became Low Bailiff in 1671, leased the house and what is now the courtyard as ‘tan pitts’. His widow took over the lease in 1679 for 15/4d plus an extra 2/- for the tan pits.
In 1676, Thomas Lane died. He was estate manager to Sir Job Charlton and a wealthy man in his own right. He left part of his estate to his wife, but the rest in trust to Sir Job, Sir Thomas Walcott and John Holland for them to dispose ‘to some charitable use or uses according to their best discretions as it shall please God to direct them’. Frances, his widow, withheld some of the money due to the trustees and Sir Job and his partners siphoned off part of the rest for their own use. This led to the Attorney General making a complaint to the High Court of Chancery in 1679 on behalf of the people of Ludlow.
Eventually after a long legal battle involving several witnesses including Anne Hinton, wife of Thomas Hinton, a Ludlow baker who was the High Bailiff at the time, Thomas Lane’s widow inherited the goods and chattels and in 1681 the Corporation inherited what is now called Lane’s House for charitable use. This is the half-timbered house next to Old Gate House, with a date of 1621 on a plaque on the dormer gable. Most of the frame is C16, but the date of the timbers in the gables matches the date on the plaque. It replaced an earlier medieval building on the same site.
Ludlow Corporation decided to join Old Gate House and Lane’s House together to create a ‘Poor House’ and ‘House of Correction’. They directed the Chamberlain, Richard Cole, in 1682 to make repairs and join up the buildings ‘at a cost of £10 or £12’. This included installing windows in the north wall (two of which have since been moved from the sitting room to overlooking the library on the first floor). The newly joined-up building remained the Ludlow Poor House until 1837 when the Corporation built the new Union Workhouse on Gravel Hill (now Ludlow Hospital). During that time, up to 38 people were housed there. In addition, ‘the lunatyk poor’ were housed in sheds in what is now the courtyard. The tan and lime pits were filled in to create a garden, where they kept first goats and then (from 1773) cows. A woollen manufactory was set up in 1776 to give work to the inmates in what are now 52 and 54 Old Street. The half-round tower attached to Old Gate House was demolished at the same time. The half round tower on the other side of Old Street formed part of the Mug House Inn, later the Dog Inn, where cock fighting was held in the Inn yard. It was demolished in 1822.
The Poor House was run by the Parish from 1743. They appointed and paid a number of Masters including Samuel Whittley, his widow Mary, William Holland and John Gould. The Master was paid from £52 10/- in 1747 to £200 in 1776 and this covered all the costs of ‘care, maintenance, support and clothing’ and latterly of running the manufactory. The metal framed windows in the south and west walls were added in 1767. The town stocks were outside the front of the building. In 1837 the contents were sold; all the beds went in a job lot for £2, being very bug-ridden.
From 1837 to 1966, the old Poor House became ‘Lane’s Asylum’, an almshouse for widows of the town, in the trust of the Ludford estate (the heirs of Sir Job Charlton). In 1861, the inhabitants were Mary Jones (the Matron), her two sons and six inmates (Sarah and Elizabeth Lewis, Mary Leadbetter, Hannah Price, Elizabeth Tipton and Elizabeth Wilkes). Several of them were still living there in 1871, when Elizabeth Tipton was 95. The asylum closed in 1966 when the trust ran out of money and the building was in disrepair.
Ludlow Corporation sold the whole building to Beatrice Thompson in 1966. In 1971 it was bought by Ken Gilbert, who in 1981 divided it back into two houses (Old Gate House and Lane’s House). He also added the attic dormer windows. Ken Gilbert lived in Old Gate House until 1985 when he sold it to Alan Papier, who ran an acupuncture clinic in the outbuilding in the courtyard.
Patrick and Judi Beautement bought the house in 1999 and embarked on a major restoration, stripping the house back to its bones. They discovered the portcullis hidden in the wall of the library. This was probably the one installed in the Old Gate before the portcullis arch was demolished by the Royalists during the siege of Ludlow in 1646, so that they could fire their cannon down Old Street. It may even be the original C13 century portcullis.
John and Glenys Nash bought the house in 2002 and made a number of further sensitive modernisations including installing the oak staircases and building the garden room. They sold it to Pam and Mike Beazley in 2010.
Ludlow Town Wall from the Old Gate House, westwards.
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The side wall of the Old Gate House with Lane's House (formerly Lane's Asylum) on the right.
Photo © Fabian Musto (cc-by-sa/2.0)
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