Monument MPM1900 - Site of 16th century chapel

Suggested site of a chapel marked near the saluting platform on a late-16th century map. Thought to have been in existance by the early-16th century, not marked on maps by 1716.

A chapel is marked near the saluting platform on a late-16th century map. John Leland recorded a chapel in open ground near the wall and the shore during a visit in the first half of the 16th century. This may have been a chapel erected as part of the penance agreed in 1508 in order to lift a sentence of excommunication imposed on the town following the murder of the bishop of Chichester in 1450. The chapel is not marked on Edward’s plan of 1716, and it is likely that it was demolished when the defences were remodelled in 1687. The suggested location has been taken from the Extensive Urban Survey of Hampshire's Historic Towns. [1]

The chapel may be marked on a copy of a map of Portsmouth dated 1677 held by Portsmouth History Centre. [2]

<1> Edwards, Bob, 1999, An Extensive Urban Survey of Hampshire's Historic Towns: Historic Portsmouth Archaeological Assessment Document (Bibliographic reference). SPM511.

<2> unknown, 1677, Copy of a map of Portsmouth (title unknown) (Map). SPM566.