St Catherine's Chapel, St Catherine's Hill, Abbotsbury, Dorset
St Catherine’s Chapel was built by the monks of nearby Abbotsbury Abbey as a pilgrimage chapel and is virtually unaltered. It is one of a handful of chapels of this kind which are located outside the walls of the monasteries that built them. Its isolated setting allowed the monks to withdraw from the monastery during Lent for private prayer and meditation. The dedication of the chapel to St Catherine of Alexandria is rare, but her cult was one of the most popular in medieval England. The chapel overlooks the sea and was probably used as a beacon or sea-mark after the abbey was closed during the Dissolution of the monasteries. In later times a navigation light was kept burning at the top of its stair turret. It is now (2011) in the care of English Heritage. Find out more.
