Monument record 1965/1/1 - Medieval Church of St Mary

<1> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, vol.II, p.827-831 (Book). SCH1389.

The church is mentioned in a grant of Edward III (c.1344) - 'Hugh de Venables of Kynderton, grants to Ralph, Matthew and Hugh, respectively parsons of the churches of Davenham, Brereton and Eccleston, the manor and advowson of the church of Eccleston'. Ormerod’s account contains a description of the monuments within the church as of 1572; comprising sixteenth century stained glass, grave slabs and an altar tomb with effigies of Sir Richard Grosvenor and one of his wives. The monuments to the Grosvenor family were moved to the north transept of the new church (CHER 1965/1/3).

<2> Hanshall, J. H., 1817-1823, The History of the County Palatine of Chester, p.308-9 (Book). SCH1382.

The ‘old church….taken down in April 1807…was a low structure…of early English architecture with a square tower (and)…consisted of a nave and side aisles’. The replacement church (CHER 1965/1/3) was built on the site of the old church.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ46 SW7 (Index). SCH2487.

Drawings preserved in the vestry of the present church (CHER 1965/1/4) show the medieval church and that built in the early nineteenth century. The drawing of the medieval building shows that it had a buttressed tower, four light lancet windows and what is apparently a two storied timbered south porch.

<4> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, vol.I, p.288 (Book). SCH3556.

Curvilinear churchyard with large carved cross, now lost but possibly pre-Norman.

<5> Williams SR, 1970s-1980s, Rhys Williams' Aerial Photographs, Eccleston 6 (3.0182) (Aerial Photograph). SCH4607.

<6> Laing L & J, 1985, The Dark Ages of West Cheshire, p.20-4 (Monograph). SCH3115.

Noted during survey work at Heronbridge were the remains of a curved bank which demarcates the boundary of the earlier churchyard. An estate map of 1798 depicts the churchyard as a smooth oval truncated at its western end. The Eccles element of the village’s name may derive from the British word for a church. This and the oval shaped churchyard may indicate that this is a pre-Anglo-Saxon foundation. In later centuries this may have been re-dedicated to St Guthlac. A print of 1800 of St Mary’s depicts near the east end of the nave a broken cross shaft which the authors suggest is possibly Anglo Saxon. The church is described as comprising a fifteenth century tower, sixteenth century nave and timber porch. This probably represents the piecemeal replacement of an earlier timber church.

<7> Chester Archaeological Society, 2014, Draft Interim Report on the Exploratory Dig at the Paddock and the Manor House lawns, Eccleston., p.9 (Unpublished Report). SCH8039.

A small trench excavated against the side of the wall marking the southern side of the curvilinear enclosures revealed no evidence of multiple phases of construction or for repair of this section of the wall.