Scheduled Monument: The Great Merestone Medieval Boundary Marker On Finlow Hill, 245M East Of Mottram House (1020194)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: The Great Merestone medieval boundary marker on Finlow Hill, 245m east of Mottram House PARISH: OVER ALDERLEY DISTRICT: MACCLESFIELD COUNTY: CHESHIRE NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 33862 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SJ86137677 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes a large boulder, half buried in a field on Finlow Hill. It lies on the former medieval boundary between the parishes of Nether Alderley and Over Alderley, but later agricultural work has removed the bank on which it must have stood. This stone is referred to locally as the `Great Merestone' and is one of a number mentioned in a description of a perambulation of the parish and estate boundaries of May 1598. The stone is a roughly squared boulder about 1.30m in diameter and made of a fine-grained sandstone, possibly a glacial erratic. It stands 0.40m above the present ground level. On the top surface is a damaged carved cross with the arms about 0.30m across. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE The Great Merestone medieval boundary marker on Finlow Hill, 245m east of Mottram House, appears on a description of the parish and estate boundaries of the area of Alderley Edge dated 1598. The stone is known locally as the `Great Merestone' and has attracted much attention as a semi-sacred object. Together with two other markers on the Edge they constitute an uncommon survival of medieval boundaries and provide important evidence of the extent of the medieval parochial and estate landholdings. Although the site is not open to the public, the stone is visible from the road from Finlow Hill Lane to Bradford Lodge, and so the monument provides an educational resource for the numerous visitors to this area. MONUMENT INCLUDED IN THE SCHEDULE ON 20th July 2001