St James's Chapel, a small thatched building near Kersey in Suffolk, dates from the 1200s and once served a castle that has long since vanished
Open to visitorsan English Heritage site — check opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
A small flint chapel with tall, narrow, pointed-top lancet windows in its south wall sits out in the fields near Kersey, known as St James’s Chapel; its oldest parts date to the 13th century, though older stone reused in the walls hints at a first chapel here roughly a century earlier. The chapel was built to serve nearby Lindsey Castle, of which only earthworks now survive, and a special tithe was raised in 1242 to keep a lamp burning inside. Worship continued here long after the castle was abandoned, until the chapel was dissolved in 1547 along with England’s other small ‘free’ chapels and handed to a local man, Thomas Turner, who turned it into a barn. The thatched roof and much of the west wall date from its barn years, while inside, a carved stone piscina, a small basin for washing the sacrament vessels, survives from the 13th century. It’s free to see, and opens at set times rather than all day.
