Ruined Chapel in the Wood

Ashley Chase is northwest of Abbotsbury, where you will find this exquisite fragment of a 13c Cistercian cell, the land was given to the monks of Netly Abbey near Southampton by William of Litton in 1246.  The land was given in exchange for perpetual prayers being said, in 1538 Netly Abbey fell under the dissolution.  A small chapel 32 x18 feet was built on the farm land dedicated to St Luke for the local community, with the continued dissolution of the monastery’s St Luke became abandoned and fell into ruin. The Chapel is beautifully sited in a wood above a small ravine.  The building is roofless and all that remains now is the west wall, three tombs, an altar constructed from the debris and an interesting crucifix, with Christ wearing a crown.  The tombs are of David and Olga Milne-Watson, who built Ashley Chase House