Abstract
The contract for the construction of the chapel of the Blessed Virgin in the cemetery of Holy Trinity, Southchurch, Essex, is probably the earliest surviving building contract in England. It dates from 1293 and recounts the instructions of Sir Peter de Southchurch for the construction of a large, freestanding chapel for his father’s burial. The chapel does not survive, if it was ever built, and the contract has been almost entirely disregarded by scholars, including L. F. Salzman, with the exception of some local historians of the 1920s–40s. Its significance for our understanding of contracting for building work, gentry culture and the construction of detached chapels has been wholly overlooked. This paper includes a new transcription and translation of the document.
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