The parish church of St David was originally "a
chapel of ease" for Bourton-on-the-Hill, which meant it was more accessible to some parishioners than the main church.
The cathedral's slightly softened stark simplicity soothes, from the alabaster-filtered light -- which gives off the illusion of incense drifting away -- to the woods of the ceiling and plainness of the walls, these turn what could have been a 2,400-seat religious amphitheater into a
chapel of ease.
The religious theme is more likely as a '
chapel of ease' was dedicated to St Thomas Becket in the early 1300s.
Midhopestones, near Sheffield, a
chapel of ease rebuilt in 1703 has a good example of early box pews, some of which have the occupants' names on them.
Walk back to the lane, but detour left on the way to the medieval
chapel of ease, a striking sight on a low rise in a field.
This
chapel of ease was paid for by John Gough and was opened in 1833.
Derek, parish council secretary who lives in nearby Ouston, has carried out research on the church and village and found there was a
chapel of ease on the site of the present church in 1286 which was linked to St Cuthbert's Church in Chester-le-Street.
Eventually, St John's, originally a
chapel of ease to St Mary's, became the parish church.
The building of a '
chapel of ease' at Deritend was meant to address this problem.
The church was built as a
chapel of ease in the 13th Century for parishioners unable to attend the mother church at Wappenbury in times of flood.
It should mean a new era for a church which was a
chapel of ease until 1545, when Eston folk got their own priest, and which served as respite for pilgrims and travellers between Whitby, Gisborough Priory and Lindisfarne.
Originally it was a
chapel of ease to the mother church at Walton, until Liverpool became a separate parish in 1699.