Borbach Chantry, West Dean, in south-east Wiltshire, England, was built in 1333. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is now a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a "closed church", is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused church ...

in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. It was declared redundant on 5 October 1971, and was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the trust (at that time the Redundant Churches Fund) on 19 January 1973. The chapel was built of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

dressings, about 1333 by Robert de Borbach in the south aisle of a 14th-century parish church, but is all that remains of the church. When the rest was demolished in 1868 the

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

which connected the chapel to the church was walled up, with a central window taken from the demolished chancel, and a south porch was added. The 14th-century trussed rafters of the roof were retained. The work was carried out by the Evelyn family in order to preserve their monuments. At the east end, behind 17th-century iron railings, is a full-height monument to Robert Pierrepoint (died 1669), whose family married into the Evelyns. Julian Orbach calls the black, white and gold monument "intensely dramatic" and states that it is attributed to

John Bushnell John Bushnell (1636–1701) was an English sculptor, known for several outstanding funeral monuments in English churches including Westminster Abbey. Life He was born in 1636 in Holborn in London the son of a plumber. Around 1650 he was appr ...

. Monuments on the north wall include the kneeling figures of John Evelyn (died 1627) and his wife, under a Baroque double

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

, their eleven children kneeling below them. The parliamentarian

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or ...

(died 1685) has a bust in a black niche, under a pediment bearing an urn and two female figures, described as "good" by Orbach.

References

{{Authority control 14th-century church buildings in England Buildings and structures completed in 1333 Church of England church buildings in Wiltshire Grade I listed churches in Wiltshire Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust

See also

References