Kilve Chantry

{{Short description|Ruined chantry chapel in Kilve, Somerset, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox monastery |name = Kilve Chantry |image = Kilvechantry.jpg|alt=Stone wall with window of ruined building |order = |mother = |established = 1329 |disestablished = Late 14th century |diocese = |churches = |founder = Simon de Furneaux |dedication = |people = |location = Kilve, Somerset, England |oscoor = {{gbmappingsmall|ST146440}} |remains = |public_access = }} {{Location map |Somerset |lat= 51.1890 |long= -3.2230 |width=180 |float=right |caption=''Kilve Chantry shown within Somerset''<br />({{gbmapping|ST146440}}) }} '''Kilve Chantry''' was a religious site in Kilve, Somerset, England.

The Chantry was founded in 1329, when a brotherhood of five monks was employed to say Mass for their founder, Simon de Furneaux.<ref name="completesomerset">{{cite book |last=Bush |first=Robin |author-link=Robin Bush (historian) |title=Somerset: The complete guide |year=1994 |publisher=Dovecote Press |location=Wimborne, Dorset |isbn=1-874336-27-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush }}</ref> The Roll of Incumbents shows that several successive chantry priests were incumbents of Kilve parish. It was dissolved in the late 14th century.<ref name="sher">{{cite web|url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/30560|title=Remains of Chantry, abutting East side of Chantry Cottage, Sea Lane (West side), Kilve|work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=Somerset County Council|access-date=7 January 2010}}</ref> The chantry seems to have fallen into a ruin long before the dissolution of the chantries, and for centuries it served as a barn for the adjacent farm.<ref>{{cite web | title=Remains of Chantry, abutting east side of Chantry Cottage | work=historicengland.org.uk | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1345688 | access-date=2007-10-07}}</ref>

The building stayed in use for many years, possibly by smugglers, until a fire in 1848,<ref name="waite">{{cite book |title=Portrait of the Quantocks |last=Waite |first=Vincent |year=1964 |publisher=Robert Hale |location=London |isbn=0-7091-1158-4 }}</ref> caused by an attempt to destroy evidence of contraband brandy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Byford|first=Enid|title=Somerset Curiosities|date=1987|publisher=Dovecote Press|isbn=0946159483|page=[https://archive.org/details/somersetcuriosit0000byfo/page/24 24]|url=https://archive.org/details/somersetcuriosit0000byfo/page/24}}</ref> Some parts of the chantry complex have survived intact and are now 'Chantry' and 'Priory Cottages', but the large solar wing is now ruined.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/34540|title=Kilve chantry, Kilve|work=Somerset Historic Environment Record|publisher=Somerset County Council|access-date=7 January 2010}}</ref>

It is now a Grade II* listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument,<ref name="sher"/> which is listed on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk Register as "very bad" with a priority rating of "A", the highest possible.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://risk.english-heritage.org.uk/default.aspx?id=1186&rt=0&pn=1&st=a&ctype=all&crit=Kilve|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713163950/http://risk.english-heritage.org.uk/default.aspx?id=1186&rt=0&pn=1&st=a&ctype=all&crit=Kilve|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2012|title=Remains of Chantry at Kilve, Sea Lane, Kilve, West Somerset, Somerset|work=Buildings at Risk Register|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=7 January 2010}}</ref>

==References== {{Commons category|Kilve Chantry}} {{reflist}}

Category:Monasteries in Somerset Category:1329 establishments in England Category:Grade II* listed buildings in West Somerset Category:Scheduled monuments in West Somerset Category:Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset Category:14th-century disestablishments in England Category:Church ruins in England Category:Grade II* listed ruins Category:Grade II* listed churches in Somerset