Site Event/Activity record ECH1232 - Possible Site of a Hermitage ~ MPP Scoring

The Monuments Protection Programme was a comprehensive review and evaluation of England's archaeological resource, designed to collect information to enhance the conservation, management, and public appreciation of the archaeological heritage. One of its principal aims was to identify those monuments and sites whose national importance and conservation needs justify some form of statutory protection (generally scheduling). Scoring Remarks Footings, and pottery reported, but the O.S. have not traced anything, in what is just an improved pasture field. Possible site of a pre 1255 chapel in Hermitage field, Tarporley. In 1817 the foundations of the chapel were discovered in Hermitage field on a knoll, a stone coffin containing human bones was found nearby. The chapel was known as the 'Free Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Leonard or the Hermitage of the Rood beside Tarporley'. Variations of these names occur from 1255 onwards. A hermitage is the name given to a small place in a secluded spot such as a hermit's cell. Medieval hermits generally lived alone in isolated spots but offered assistance to travellers. Hermit John is recorded in 1287 and Adam in 1301.