SO8629 : Deerhurst - Odda's Chapel - Reproduction of Dedication Stone
taken 6 years ago, near to Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, England
To be precise, the stone was unearthed in the orchard of the adjoining Abbot's Court, and can now be viewed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
The Latin inscription reads (Bracketed letters are omitted from the actual inscription and their absence generally marked by a bar over the preceding letter):
ODDA DUX JUSSIT HANC REGIAM AULAM CONSTRUI ATQUE DEDICARI IN HONORE S(ANCTÆ) TRINITATIS PRO ANIMA GERMANI SUI ÆLFRICI QUE DE HOC LOCO ASU(M)PTA EALDREDUS VERO EP(ISCOPU)S QUI EANDE(M) DEDICAVIT II IDIBUS AP(RI)L(IS) XIIII AUTE(M) ANNO S(ANCTÆ) REGNI EADWARDI REGIS ANGLORU(M)
The following is the precise translation from the Latin (a more simplified translation is given in the shared description below):
"Earl Odda ordered this royal hall to be built and dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity for the soul of his brother Aelfric, taken up [into heaven] from this place. Ealdred was the bishop who dedicated the building on the second day before Ides of April in the fourteenth year of the reign of Edward, king of the English."
Note that King Edward is referred to as "Sanctæ" meaning holy or sanctified - this title i.e. "the confessor" was not applied to Edward until after his death, meaning that this stone (the original) was not carved until after his death in 1066, it is considered however to have been created not long after this date.
A photograph of the original can be seen here Link
See shared description below for more information and links:
The Saxon Odda's Chapel is joined onto the C17th Abbot's Court.
ODDA'S CHAPEL
From records, the chapel's existence was known, however until 1885 its location wasn't. In that year the Reverend George Butterworth (1822-1909) took the opportunity to investigate this thick-walled stone building when work was being carried out on Abbot's Court into which it had been incorporated. Looking inside he noticed a faint semi-circle under the plaster covering the front wall. Removing some of this plaster exposed the remains of a round-headed doorway. With the help of the builder Thomas Collins they gradually exposed the whole of the Saxon chapel.
Remarkably, the chapel can be dated precisely to 1056 as a dedication stone (to the then unidentified chapel) was discovered nearby in 1675. The inscription was in Latin, and when translated reads:
"Earl Odda ordered this royal chapel to be built and dedicated in honour of the Holy Trinity for the good of the soul of his brother Aelfric who died in this place. Bishop Ealdred dedicated it on April 12th in the fourteenth year of the reign of Edward, King of the English."
The King Edward referred to is now known as Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042-1066). This plaque (a replica of which can be found on the eastern wall of the chapel) can now be found in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford Link
It is of course Grade I listed by English Heritage - see Link
the Victoria County Histories Link
The chapel is now owned and maintained by English Heritage, and can be visited free-of-charge. See Link
More on the chapel's history and discovery here Link
ABBOT'S COURT
Adjoined at right-angles to Odda's Chapel and until 1885 subsuming it, is the early C17th Abbot's Court. This fine half-timbered building is not open to the public. It is separately listed by EH as Grade II, see Link
![Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]](https://s1.geograph.org.uk/img/somerights20.gif){kind=small}
- Grid Square
- SO8629, 106 images (more nearby 🔍)
- Photographer
- Rob Farrow (more nearby)
- Date Taken
- Monday, 28 May, 2018 (more nearby)
- Submitted
- Wednesday, 27 June, 2018
- Subject Location
-
OSGB36:
SO 8692 2984 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:58.0127N 2:11.5076W - Camera Location
-
OSGB36: SO 8692 2984
- View Direction
- Southeast (about 135 degrees)
