* STORIES *

There are many stories about St Catherine's Chapel, the hill it is on and the surrounding area.  Some are factual or historical backed up by evidence, others are legend and hearsay.  We are not fussy!  We want to know how the place is talked of by people who know and use it.  Do you have stories to tell?  If so please contact us:  

mailto:Janine.Creaye@artform.demon.co.uk

Here are a few of the stories we like:

The Maid of Astolat (Astolat is an old name for Guildford) - an Arthurian legend

The daughter of a Lord fell in love with Lancelot when he stayed overnight in disguise.  She helped him recover from a jousting wound, nursing him back to health over weeks.  On his recovery she found that he did not love her in return and would not marry her (his love was for Guinevere).  He returned to Westminster she pined away and died.  When she knew that she was dying she had a letter written to Lancelot and requested to be set on a bed and floated to Westminster on her death.  This request was granted and she arrived, a beautiful corpse letter in hand, set on a decorated and draped bed.  Lancelot paid for the funeral but said that love must arise from the heart and not  by constraint.

The naming of St Catherine's Hill and the dedication of the Chapel

Saint Catherine (or Katherine) is the saint associated with hills.  This is said to be because after her martyrdom by beheading, she was carried by angels to mount Sinai.  She is often associated with hills with a spring.

The Wheel  Initially it was a spiked wheel which was to break her body as means of execution, however her goodness meant that the wheel broke and splintered into many pieces which flew out into the crowd killing those around, but leaving her unharmed.  This gives the image of the Catherine Wheel and the name of the firework.

The Dragon Hill

The hill was originally called Drakehull or Dragonhill.  This was for two reasons:
1)  The serpentine shape of the mound and the spring at the bottom was seen as a dragon's residence in Saxon times.  (The head has now been severed by the A3100 Road cutting.)
2)  There were ancient legends of dragons guarding springs and there is still a spring at the base of this hill.  In the past there were said to be 7 springs and that they could cure eye problems, which made this a very special site.  St Catherine is a saint who was believed to protect people from dragons, which reinforces the reason for the Chapel's dedication to her, there was obviously a dragon here....

The Giantesses - (we have heard this story from many sources so it must be true)
         
The Chapels of St Martha's at Chilworth and St Catherine at Artington were built by two sister giantesses at the same time.  They had only one hammer between them, so to get around the problem of sharing, they would throw it back and forth across the river Wey as it was needed.  
(We ignore the fact that the church of St Martha is actually much older that St Catherine's.)

Pilgrims and Ladders

St Catherine's is a Chapel of ease, said to have been used by pilgrims traveling from Winchester to Canterbury between 1329 (its consecration) to around1450 when it fell into disuse.  In Victorian times a theory was put forward about the configuration of doors as they appeared by then.  There seem to be 3 at ground level and 2 above in the centre of the North and South walls.  They appear to have door jambs implying inward opening on the South and outward on the North, but no sign of a ramp or steps.  So the image arrives that there was such a flow of pilgrims that they gushed through from South to North at ground level and to relieve congestion, took to entering by doors at high window level, crossing by means of a gallery and descending at the same level the other side.  This would be by ladder as a temporary arrangement leaving no historic mark or step.  (Great story .....make up your own minds on the truth.  PS: There was rebuilding work carried out in Georgian times when the ruined chapel was valued as the decorative focal point of a vista for Robert Austen of Shalford.)

The Chapel and the Fair



There was a fair held around the Chapel from 1308 (though built in 1301 the chapel was not consecrated until1329).  The fair continued to be held annually, up to the first world war, without missing a year.  The fair is the subject of a Turner painting kept at the Tate.

Fairs were held around religious festivals.  This one was around St Matthews day 21st September, and later in October.  There was revenue collected by the leaseholder for these fairs.  In this case there was a dispute as the lease had not been paid when the chapel was built, and it was contested by another church only to be reclaimed later by St Nicolas'.  The lease and ownership of the chapel were important to holding rights to the fair.

The Chapel was only actively used as a chapel for around 150 years (although a service is still held at Easter to honour its consecration).  There was thought to be a chapel to St Katherin as early as 1202, yet this had already fallen into a ruin, or been destroyed by 1300.  Why build a new chapel.  Was the Chapel always a condition of setting up and drawing revenue from running a fair?  Or was their genuine need for the people at Artington?

It went on to be a decorative ruin (rebuilt accordingly) and possibly even used as a barn for farm animals.  It used to be on open land visible from far away, before the trees grew up around it.  Is a major part of its mystery and focus for stories because it did not retain a positive use, so was left open for people to project ideas on to...?