St Catherine’s Chapel, Milton Abbas

Next time you visit Milton Abbey, one of Dorset’s most magnificent churches, look up the hill to the east. You will see another ecclesiastical building that is much more modest but at least 100 years older, the Abbey having been rebuilt after a fire in 1309.

St Catherine’s Chapel is over 800 years old and boasts some typical Norman architecture as well as some notable medieval floor tiles. It was supposedly built on the spot where King Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, learnt in a vision that he would defeat the invading Danes.

 Today it is a place of wonderful serenity, but its most striking feature is the superb view down the hill to the east end of the Abbey.

 Nearest post code: DT11 0AT
OS reference: ST801022
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