Monument record 1799/2 - Poulton Chapel and Grange

<1> Chester Courant, 1878-1990, The Cheshire Sheaf, 3rd Series, vol.35 no.7831 (Newspaper-Magazine). SCH3105.

A Cistercian abbey was founded at Poulton in 1153 or 1158, but was moved to Dieulacres in Staffordshire in 1214. After the transfer of the abbey to Dieulacres a grange and chapel were maintained at Poulton by the monks. After the Dissolution this property was granted to Sir George Cotton in 1544. It was acquired by the Manleys not long after this date, and was sold by them to Richard Grosvenor of Eaton, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Poulton Chapel was in decay by 1672 and there are now no visible remains above ground of the Abbey or any of its subsidiary buildings. The site of the chapel, however, is marked on the Ordnance maps as about 2,000 feet to the east of the Chapelhouse Farm and on the west bank of Pulford Brook.

Around 1920 a farmer had ploughed a field between the site and the River Dee and had uncovered a large number of bones and a few stones but nothing more. A Mr. B. G. Williams, a son of a former incumbent of Pulford, had made considerable excavations on the site of the chapel around 1892 finding considerable quantities of encaustic tiles. The finds and the excavation notes were presented to Canon Rupert Morris, but the writer has been unable to ascertain what became of these.

<1> Poulton Research Project, 2003, Chapel House Farm, Poulton, North of Chapel. Geophysical Report, (resistance) 2001 (Report). SCH7708.

Site of prehistoric activity at Poulton first located theough geophysical survey in 2001.

<2> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol.2 p.861-3 (Book). SCH1389.

Robert Pincerna, butler of the Earl of Chester, gave by charter a moiety of this township to God, the Virgin Mary, and William, first abbot of Combermere, to found here a convent of Cistercian monks, for the safety and health of his master Earl Randle Gernons (then a prisoner of the king) and of his pre-decessors, Earls Hugh and Randle, his own wife Ivetta, his son and heir apparent Robert, and the souls of his ancestors.

The foundation of the abbey took place in 1153 according to the legend given in the Monasticon, but in 1158 according to an indorsement on the foundation charter. The situation of the monks was rendered unpleasant and dangerous by the irruptions of the Welsh, in consequence of which Randle Blundeville translated the monks of Poulton to Dieulacres in Staffordshire about the year 1220.

After the dissolution the king granted to sir George Cotton, and Mary his wife, the manor and chapel of Poulton, by Patent dated Dec. 20, 1544, with a license (dated 26th Dec.) to grant Poulton to Thomas Grosvenor. This license, perhaps, related only to part of the manor; or Grosvenor granted a moiety of the manor to the Manleys.

Poulton is situated on the bank of the Dee, and separated by a small brook from Flintshire. The remains of the monastery have been long totally destroyed.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ45NW4/1964 (Index). SCH2487.

<4> Emery G, Gibbins D & Matthews K, 1996, The Archaeology of an Ecclesiastical Landscape. Chapel House Farm, Poulton (Cheshire) 1995 (Monograph). SCH7702.

Research project comprising field walking, resistivity survey and excavation. Field walking was undertaken in March in a field immediately adjacent to what was believed to be the chapel site. The raised area believed to be the chapel site was subject to a resistivity survey which revealed the outline of a rectangular building. Subsequent excavations uncovered the chapel foundations, medieval and post medieval artefacts and human burials outside the building. There is also evidence of earlier Romano-British and prehistoric occupation at this site.

<5> Emery, Mike M, 2000, The Poulton Chronicles- tales from a medieval chapel (Book). SCH7703.

Seasonal research and training excavations between 1995 and 1998 by Chester Archaeology and the University of Liverpool completely revealed the upper foundations of the medieval chapel as well as a large part of the cemetery. Further Romano-British and prehistoric material has also been uncovered. Since 1999, the independent Poulton Research Project has continued seasonal excavations at the site.

<6> Burrell, Carla L. And Carpenter, Raymond J., 2013, Analysis of Human Skeletal Material from the Poulton Research Project. 1995-2012 (Report). SCH7704.

A total of 627 human skeletons were excavated at the Poulton chapel site between 1995 and the end of 2012, together with large quantities of disarticulated bone. They are all believed to date from the medieval period, although precise dates have only been determined for two examples. Many of the burials have been considerably disturbed, often by other burials, making analysis and interpretation more complex. All of the undisturbed burials are aligned approximately east-west, generally in an extended supine position: all but three have their head to the west. There is some evidence for shroud burials, and many of the grave fills contained significant quantities of building material from the Roman and medieval periods which is not easy to explain. There is very little evidence of personal items being buried with the bodies. Basic osteological data was already available or was generated by the present authors, for 627 skeletons. Sex, age at death and stature were assessed for all those skeletons for which the necessary material was available. However, key points include: Amongst the adults there is an overall predominance of females which is statistically significant but as yet unexplained. 45% of deaths were subadults. 9% of those whose age could be determined lived more than 45 years. Average adult stature was 1.7m for males and 1.6m for females.

<7> Carla L. Burrell, Michael M. Emery, Sara M. Canavan, and James C. Ohman, 2018, Broken Bones: Trauma Analysis on a Medieval Population from Poulton, Cheshire, Trauma in Medieval Society, p.71-91 (Article in Monograph). SCH9095.

A study of the remains of 726 adults and subadults (prepubescent children), from the collection of skeletons recovered by the Poulton Project, were examined for fractures. Based on historical sources and the current landscape, this rural community engaged in farming as their main occupation. Their farming consisted of many distinct daily activities. Crops and animals were raised, fields ploughed, cows milked, and crops reaped. These tasks were important for survival in the Middle Ages and undoubtedly contributed to the type and number of fractures found.

Fracture types and patterns were quantified, including severity and location within the skeleton. The association of fracture types and their prevalence were analyzed relative to sex and age at death. Of the 726 individuals, only 76 (10.5%) exhibited a fracture. As expected, fracture prevalence increased with age and there was a higher prevalence of fractures in men than in women. All fractures were healed with little evidence of any further complications such as osteomyelitis and periostitis. The results suggest that most of these bone traumas occurred because of accidents in and around the home. These analyses provide an insight into medieval life at Poulton and how people coped with injury and bodily trauma in the pre-modern world.

<8> Carla L. Burrell, Michael M. Emery, Silvia Gonzalez, Paget's disease of bone in two medieval skeletons from Poulton Chapel, Cheshire, UK, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Vol29, p.922–933 (Article in Journal). SCH9096.

A study of two skeletons, an adult male (SK463) and female (SK750), with skeletal lesions of PDB (Paget's disease of bone) from Poulton Chapel, Cheshire. Typically, PDB affects one or a few bones of the axial skeleton and is commonly recorded in older individuals (over 55 years of age) affecting more males than females. Although PDB has been reported worldwide, there is a high concentration of reported cases in the UK, with a regional hotspot in the north-west of England.

Full macroscopic and radiographic analysis has identified the skeletal distribution of PDB, with up to 75% of both skeletons affected. SK463 presents noticeable anterior bowing to both tibiae, likely the result of PDB. AMS radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis performed on teeth samples confirmed that both individuals' dates were medieval, had a mixed/varied diet and were local to the northwest of England. This research adds to the emerging paleopathological literature on PDB, while providing additional support for the identification of a geographical hotspot observed in contemporary populations.

<9> K.Cootes, J.Axworthy, C.Davenport, D.Jordan, 2019, Living like common people: Excavating a medieval peasant farming community at Poulton, p.034-041, Current Archaology, Vol 352, 2019 (Article in Journal). SCH9097.

A further study examining more than 800 medieval skeletons excavated at Poulton which have shed new light on a Cheshire community who farmed the land in the service of a Cistercian Abbey between the 13th and 16th centuries. The skeletons evidence a physically demanding lifestyle, disease, high infant mortality when compared to modern populations, and, on occasion, violent death.

<10> Kevin Cootes, Matthew Thomas, David Jordan, Janet Axworthy, Rea Carlin, 2021, Blood is thicker than baptismal water: A late medieval perinatal burial in a small household chest, Int J Osteoarchaeol., 2021, p.1–8. (Article in Journal). SCH9098.

A study investigating the discovery of a perinatal burial (Sk953) within a rural graveyard at Poulton in Cheshire, England, placed in a small household box. The interment of stillborn infants in later medieval burial grounds stands at odds with Catholic Church Law, which forbade the inclusion of unbaptised children withinconsecrated ground. When perinatal remains occur within graveyards, their interpretation can be problematic. Did they live to be baptised, or do such examples represent clandestine burials? Historical documents indicate that some parents disobeyed the Church and secretly buried their offspring within consecrated ground. Proving such actions in the archaeological record, however, is another matter.

A multifaceted approach was used to interpret the varying strands of evidence. These comprised church law, the birth, container, orientation of the corpse, local topography, date of burial, and status of the graveyard when the infant was interred. The authors interpret the evidence as characteristic of a clandestine burial, and a rare expression of grief and love visible in the archaeological record.