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The earliest written
record, predating
the Norman Conquest,
is a reference in a
title deed of Little
Dartmouth Farm
describing land
'situate between
Stoke Fleming and
the Minster'. Then
in 1192 a deed was
drawn by William,
son of Stephen of
Tunstal, restoring
to Richard the
Fleming 'all the
land of Dertmeta
which is above the
Wyke and between the
monastery of St.
Peter and the land
of Stoke'. The land
referred to is
clearly the
settlement of Little
Dartmouth, but the
'monastery of St.
Peter' must surely
refer to the
religious settlement
called St. Petrox.
Whatever the
occasion of the
building of the
chapel, it is likely
that in 1192 it was
maintained to
provide a light at
the harbour
entrance. The whole
coast was fringed
with chapels in
medieval times, some
of which were used
for a few years,
whilst others were
in service for
centuries. The
lonely site at the
mouth of the Dart
would seem to have
been abandoned at
some date before
1332; when Bishop
Grandison licensed
two priests to
celebrate in the
chapel of St.
Petrox, built it was
said of old, in the
parish of the church
of Stoke Fleming,
the rights of the
parish church being
preserved. Seventeen
years later William
Smale (mayor in
1346) was
contemplating ' the
endowment of a
chapel at St.
Petrox.'
Out of one or other
of these schemes
developed the chapel
of St. Petrox for
the use of the
residents in that
part of Dartmouth
which lies along the
harbour edge between
Bayard's Cove and
the harbour mouth.
This was known as
South Town, and was
in the parish of
Stoke Fleming, which
village is fully two
miles away. By 1425
there is mention of
the wardens of the
store of the chapel
of St. Petrox, and
in 1438 a forty days
indulgence was
granted by Bishop
Lacy for building,
maintaining and
repairing the
parochial chapel
with cure of St.
Petrox.
The chapel is known
to have been a
building of only
'one roof' According
to a writer in the
'Dartmouth
Chronicle' (1 April
1868) this 'one
roof' corresponded
with the south aisle
of the existing
church. This may
well be so, since
Buck's view of the
castle area of 1734
shows that the south
wall was supported
by two buttresses
and had two small
dormer windows; and
this tallies with a
War Office plan of
1741. The three
windows now existing
would appear to have
been traced to
correspond with the
two in the north
aisle, erected in
1641.
It may well be said
that the builders 'builded
better than they
knew' for whilst
they sought to
provide for the
every-day needs of
their parish by an
adequate church and
cemetery, they have
bequeathed to
thousands a powerful
impression of the
serenityand strength
of the Christian
Church, founded upon
a rock, which
neither wind nor
wave shall destroy.
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