Remains of Catholic Chapel at Dassett Southend

1 The earliest village at Burton Dassett belongs to the Anglo Saxon period. A cemetery of this date was found during quarrying on the Burton Hills in 1908, probably belonging to a settlement whose original nucleus was around the parish church at Burton. The 12th and 13th century saw further expansion and a shift in focus of settlement down the hill to two new settlements, Northend, which survives today, and Southend, excavated from 1986-1988. The Chapel, WA 651, is the only Medieval building to survive Southend. By 1632 Southend had long been abandoned and the Chapel was probably ruinous. Thus rebuilding was necessary and a rectangular window, now blocked, similar to those in the Priest’s House, WA 6188, was inserted in the North Chapel wall. The conversion was carried out for Lady Wotton who lived in Northend Manor House nearby. The open installation of a Roman Catholic priest here is remarkable as Catholism was outlawed at this time.
2 Scheduled as Warwickshire Monument no 68.
3 Noted.