View WSW of St Catherine's Chapel, Abbotsbury, Dorset, England, UK, built in the C14th by the Benedictine monks of Abbotsbury Abbey.
View WSW of St Catherine's Chapel, Abbotsbury, Dorset, England, UK, built in the C14th by the Benedictine monks of Abbotsbury Abbey. The Chapel overlooks Chesil Beach & the sea to the S & St Peter's Abbey & farm complex to the NE. Built as a pilgrimage chapel & Lenten retreat, it was also used as a seamark & beacon with a navigation light kept burning at the head of the stair turret. A high place characteristic of St Catherine of Alexandria, the C4th martyr broken on a wheel (Catherine wheel) then beheaded, whose body was miraculously translated to Mount Sinai in the C9th. The South West Coast Path passes around Chapel Hill, the slopes of which are marked by cultivation terraces: part of the original Medieval open fields around the Abbey & village of Abbotsbury. The Chapel was Dissolved along with the Abbey in 1539. The water channel in the foreground is one of several outflows (drains, sluiceways) from the Abbey millpond & fishponds.
Size: 3780px × 2667px
Location: St Catherine's Chapel, Abbotsbury, Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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