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Although many legends and rumours abound about the chapel, including one that St Aldelm himself ordered the building of a chapel here with a beacon to warn passing ships of the dangers of the Head, very few facts about its early history are known.

One local legend tells that a bride and groom were sailing around the headland in 1140, watched by the bride's father. The boat was capsized when a sudden storm blew up and both were drowned. The desolute father is said to have built the chapel to their memory and a light was always to be kept burining to warn other sailors. Perhaps the father did begin to build the church and it was taken over and completed by the church - we may possibly never know.

Early Christian Enclosure

Although it is a pronounced feature fo the site in winter when the grass is short, many a casual visitor to the Chapel fails to notice that it is surrounded by earthworks which are accentuated by the gentle undulations of the surrounding landscape.

Experts believe that the 12^th century Norman Chapel stands at the centre of a much earlier Christian enclosure and that the present building itself probably stands on the site of an earlier wooden structure.

Early Christian enclosures are a rareity in the British Isles. They are characterised by earthworks and mounds to a roughly circular plan and are nearly always situated in remote or isolated locations in association with a chapel building or a cemetery. The sites served small religious communities or 'cells'.

In the year 2000 it was proposed to schedule the chapel and the surrounding earthworks as an ancient monument, to be described in the schedule as an "Early Christian Enclosure".

A comparable early Christian enclosure has been identified beneath Sherborne Old Castle, built in the early 12th century by Roger de Caen, the abbot of Sherborne, in the north-west corner of the county. This seems to strengthen the link between the Chapel dedicated to St. Aldhelm, and Sherborne of which he became the first bishop.

Early Documents

The first known mention of the chapel is in the reign of King Henry III when, according to the Dorset historian Hutchins, the chapel of St Mary in Corfe Castle and the chapel of St Aldhelm in Purbeck were each served by a chaplain who was paid fifty shillings per annum by the Crown via the Sheriff of the County (apparently the usual stipend of a royal chaplain at the time). Hutchins was able to glean this information from the Pipe Rolls.

The next record of the chapel dates from 1291, during the reign of Edward I ('Longshanks', 1272-1307) when it was rated at twenty shillings and again in 1428 during the reign of Henry VI (1422-1461) when it is still taxed at 20 shillings but a note records that "there were no inhabitants".

Another likely mention of the chapel occurs in either 1557 or 1558 when John Aylworth sold the Manor of Renscombe with the advowson of the chapel of renscombe, to Bernard Gould. A mapof 1737 shows the headland as still belonging to Renscombe and the chapel is clearly indicated on it.

A Chantry

It is believed that the chapel was originally achantry where a priest would celebrate mass for the safety of sailors. It is also likely that the medieval kings of England rested and prayed here while hunting on the Isle of Purbeck; King John may have visited frequently as he held the castle at corfe in high esteem, sending the crown jewels there for safekeeping and visiting frequently.

The conjecture that the chapel originated as a chantry is supported by the fact that the chantries were suppressed by King Edward VI in 1547 and, only 78 years later, in 1625, the historian Coker tells us of the chapel that "It now serves as a sea-marke, belonging to the familie of Welles in Hampshire." It is probable that local people would continue to visit the chapel for a short while after the endingof services there but it would no longer have been used as a chapel.

C17^th Wishing Chapel

In the 17^th century the chapel was falling into disrepair and rapidly becoming derelict. It does seem that the chapel was still visited because of the initials and dates of that period cut into the central column.

It was at some time used as a Wishing Chapel; young girls would drop a pin, perhaps a hairpin, into a hole in the central pillar and wish, possibly for the husband of their choice. Perhaps this is the remnant of an ancient custom of making an offering to the priest for prayer for the safety of friends and loved ones at sea.

Mrs Dora Wallace recalls being taken to the chapel by her mother to drop a pin into the hole and make a wish.

C19^th Restoration for Worship

During the 18^th century the chapel became ruinous.

On an old map of Renscombe, dated 1737, the chapel is shown as "St Abbon's Chapel" but, in an account of a tour of Dorset made in 1797, WG Maton says (according to Hutchins) that "Some part of the roof has fallen in" - apprently it was at this time that the chapel was in danger of becoming derelict.

Although the chapel was not on his land, William Morton Pitt, the owner of Enscombe in 1800, became interested in it and decided to start repairs. Nothing of importance seems to have been done, however, until the purchase of Renscombe in 1811 by Lord Chancellor Eldon (John Scott, the first earl of Eldon 1751-1838). Eldon had already bought Elcombe from Pitt in 1807.

A description of the chapel at the time survives in the form of an article read to the Purbeck Society in 1858 by the Revd John Austen. He quotes Sir Henry Engelfield who died in 1823; "the roof was so ruined and overgrown with grass that it could not be traced with certainty. Parts of the groin had fallen in, but Lord Eldon had directed it to be repaired."

No extensive repairs to the chapel were done until the latter half of the 19^th century but the Revd Austen tells us that "on Whit Thursday annually, the villagers of Worth proceed with music to the head, dress the chapel with flags, and dance within it, when many an offering it doubtless made accompanied by many a whispered wish."

There is obviously little room for dancing within the chapel - perhaps the villagers of Worth Matravers danced around outside.

An article written in 1893 by HJ Moule in the proceedings of the Dorset Archaeological Society corroborates these feast days - "On Whit-Thursday, Worth Fair Day and club day, the people went with music to St. Aldhelm's, decked the grey sombre interior with flowers and danced there." He also said that it contained coastguards' stores.

Encombe had continued with repairs to the chapel (during which old hairpins had apprently been found in the central column) and the cross was erected on the turret in 1873.

On July 18th, 1874, "after ages of desecration", a service was held to mark the re-opening of the chapel. Alfred Gibson, the son of the chief boatman who lived in a neighbouring coastguard cottage, was baptised on this occassion. According to minutes of the Worth Vestry Meeting, the third Earl of Eldon bore all the expenses of the restoration and presented the font.

The 20^th Century

Following the chapel's restoration, services were held there regularly on Sunday evenings during the last twenty years, or so, of the 19^th century but, by 1935, there was only an occassional service there.

Mrs Dora Wallace recalls that services were held at the chapel once a fortnight and always at Rogation-tide. The Rogation-tide service with procession was revived on Rogation Sunday, 1994.

In the 1930s, the families of the coastguards at the Head all attended worship at the chapel - and organ was carried in for each service and removed again at the end because of the dreadful damp in the chapel. Cows had been getting into the building and a fence and gate were instaled outside the door to keep them out. This was removed when no longer necessary in July 1963.

During the Second World War, the chapel was used for services very occassionally. It was at this time that the buildings, aerials and other aparatus of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment centered at renscombe Farm appeared on St Aldhelm's Head. Some visible remains of the Telecommunications Research Establishment's activities still remain on the Head. The chapel emerged from the war at sea and in the air unscathed and the discovery of the 'anchoress grave' in 1957 stimulated interested again.

The enscombe Estate gifted the chapel to Worth Matravers Parochial Church Council in November 1965. Much restoration work to the chapel was, once again required. The repairs were carried out with the generous financial help of well-wishersboth near and far.

This page is based on the Sixth Edition of the guide to the Chapel, Chapel of St. Aldhelm on St. Aldhelm's Head. by Marjorie Wallace (1st ed. 1985) and revised and with an Introduction by the Revd. Robert NK Watton, rector of the Purbeck Hills Parishes (Easter 2000). The guide is available from the Chapel.

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