NHER 9717 (Monument record) - Site of St James' Chapel, Gowthorpe, Swardeston

Site of, mentioned as in use in 1509. Served Gowthorpe village (location lost).
Information from Ordnance Survey card.

R.R. Clarke said that building materials were met with in ploughing. See (S1) taken 29 June 1976 show what looks like a moat around the site!
E. Rose (NAU).

No trace in ploughed field - site is on top of a slight rise.
E. Rose (NAU), 15 March 1979.

(S3) says endowed in 1286, still in use in 1509. Site known as Brick Kiln Close in 1930 (S4).
E. Rose (NAU).

Appropriate section from (S4) in file.

April 2009.
Location called Brick-Kiln Close by Blomefield in 1806 (S5) and it may be this reference that the 1931 Norfolk Archaeology article potentially refers to, rather than indicating that the site is still known as Brick Kiln Close in the 1930s.
S. Horlock (NMP), 24 April 2009.

The central grid reference for this site has been altered from TG 2105 0215 to TG 2104 0214.

April 2009. Norfolk NMP.
The cropmarks of a rectangular enclosure, interpreted as surrounding the medieval site of St James’ chapel, are visible on aerial photographs (S1, S6). The site is centred on TG 2104 0214. This medieval chapel is thought to have served the former medieval village of Gowthorpe. The definite location of this village is unknown, although assumed to be in the vicinity of the chapel. A few scant cropmarks recorded from the aerial photographs in this area may relate to the former village (NHER 52069). Additionally a few enclosures and boundary ditches recorded to the immediate east of Swardeston Hall may also relate to the site of the former settlement (NHER 52066). Swardeston Hall is a sixteenth century mansion with suggested, but unproven, medieval origins (NHER 9716). The 1:10,000 Ordnance Survey map refers to this as the site of Gowthorpe Manor. The Manor of Gowthorpe certainly existed, but it is not clear whether the sixteenth century hall sits on the site of an earlier medieval manorial site.
The enclosure is rectangular, measuring 40m by 31m externally and 34m by 25m internally. The ditch varies in width from 2m to 4m. The width of this ditch has led to suggestions that the chapel was set within a moat, although this seems unlikely. The apparent broader width of the ditch in places may be more likely to relate to the poor definition of the cropmarks, giving it an exaggerated plan. The long axis of the enclosure is aligned east-west as would be expected for a chapel or church. A potentially comparable site of a possible medieval chapel within an east-west aligned rectangular enclosure (though smaller, 17m by 11m) is recorded in Witton (NHER 27233). The only probable entrance visible is to the north, although the definition of the ditch is not particularly clear along the northern and western sides of the enclosure. The northern location of the entrance may relate to the positioning of the possible manorial site to the north.

Although the enclosure has been assumed to have enclosed the chapel thought to have existed at this location, the fact that this site was referred to as ‘Brick-Kiln Close’, combined with the numerous extraction pits on the former green, could indicate that post medieval brick production was taking place at this site and it is therefore feasible that the rectangular enclosure relates to some aspect of this activity. However given the east-west alignment of the enclosure and the recorded presence of the chapel at this location, it seems most likely that the cropmark enclosure visible on aerial photographs does relate to the former site of St James’ chapel.
S. Horlock (NMP), 24 April 2009.