Monument record 133/1/3 - Burial Mound and peristalith/stone circle (Church Lawton South)

<1> 1881-1900s, Cheshire Notes and Queries, 1882 No. 51, Item 233, Tomlinson (Journal/Periodical). SCH558.

There are two mounds in a field near the Lawton Arms

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, Waggott T, 1964, SJ85NW3 (Barrow C) (Index). SCH2487.

Field Visit, 09/09/64: Barrow 1m high. The SW quadrant has been destroyed by a railway cutting and the remainder spread by ploughing

<3> Longley D, 1977-1978, Longley Archive, No.12. Record form and Site Visit Report, 17/10/1977 (Paper Archive). SCH2005.

Site visit, 17/10/1977: The mound can only be seen as a slight rise in a field that has been disected by a railway cutting. The mound may have been spread by ploughing of the pastureland (system of crop rotation is operated). The dimensions are 58m in diameter and below 1m in height.

<4> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, Vol. 1, p.84, Longley D, 1987 (Book). SCH3556.

Earthen mound 37-58m diameter and 1m high. Phase 1: circle of nine massive boulders, two erect and 7 recumbent, c.23m diameter with gaps north and south enclosing rectangular (2.6 x 1.7m max) turf and daub structure. Phase 2: low mound covering central feature but making use of original stone circle as an element of circumference.

<5> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 8, p.48-9, McNeil R, 1982 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

It was originally believed that the cutting of the railway in the 19th century damaged the barrow and that 'urns' and 'bones' were found, but the contour survey and the excavation have shown that the tail of the barrow lay some two metres inside the fence line and well clear of the railway cutting.

The barrow at Church Lawton South is not typical. Essentially it consists of a sand mound thrown up in a dump construction and partially surrounded by a small turf wall. There were no internal setting of posts and no external ditch, although in some areas irregular hollows had been dug for sand. There were no cremation or inhumation burials associated with the mound. A roughly rectangular turf and daub structure approximately central to the mound may originally have been intended as a mortuary house. Here the body was left in an exposed place to enable decomposition and disarticulation of the bones to take place prior to cremation. One fragment of cremated bone, a piece of scapula, was recovered from the mortuary house, so the possibility of the cremated remains being removed and buried elsewhere cannot be discounted.

The most unusual feature was the circular setting of nine massive boulders around the perimeter of the barrow. These boulders were spaced centre to centre approximately five metres apart, but this arrangement was broken in the north and south, giving the appearance of two separate semi-circles. Although the boulders were glacial erratics, they were carefully selected for their size and appearance and were probably imported into the immediate area. The good face of the stones was angled into the centre of the mound. The diameter of the ensuing mound and circle was between twenty two and twenty five metres; this means that it was on the large size for a barrow, but an average size for a stone circle. Two of the stones were upright, but the remaining seven were lying on their sides. These stones had been deliberately placed in this manner and had not fallen over. All the stones were set without pits, directly on the old ground surface.

Barrows built entirely, or partly, of stones with an outer ring of kerbstones are well known in the upland areas of Wales and the Peak District. Likewise, stone circles are fairly common in the Bronze Age in these highland zones. What is unusual, and possibly unique, is the combination of a stone circle and a barrow in a lowland area. The stone circle is seen as a necessary embellishment to the mound. As there is no central burial, it is probable that none was ever intended and as such the mound and the stone circle are currently viewed as some type of memorial or cenotaph to a person or persons unknown.

<6> McNeil R et al, 1990?, Excavation of Bronze Age barrows at Church Lawton 1981 (Draft Reports) (Unpublished Report). SCH956.

The mound at Church Lawton South was designed in two phases. The first phase comprised a circle of peristaliths surrounding a rectangular structure, possibly a mortuary house. The second stage comprised the construction of a low mound.

The peristalith comprised nine massive boulders, glacial erratics, set in an ellipse some 22 x 23m in diameter. The stones had been carefully selected for their size and appearance, and were probably imported. Two of the stones were upright with the remaining seven deliberately placed in a recumbent position with their longer sides forming the circumference of the circle. They had been lain directly onto the ground surface, in some instances, small chocking stones had been placed against the back face of the boulders. The best faces of the stones were angled towards the central area. Within the stone circle, was a structure interpreted as a mortuary house. It comprised a collapsed stack of turves, burnt sands, daub, and charcoal spreads, measuring circa 2.60m x 1.70m x 0.40m. The original feature would have been smaller, perhaps circa 1.30m x 0.80m X 0.40m. Several non-structural burnt branches and smaller pieces of burnt wood and charcoal were found lying across the top of the feature. The original structure was perhaps a free-standing turf wall, possibly L or U shape. It has been radio carbon dated to 3600bp +/- 100 (1600-1400bc).

Evidence of some grass rejuvenation suggests that some time may have elapsed between the erection of the stone circle and mortuary feature and the building of the subsequent mound which was simply constructed from dumped sand. It covered the mortuary structure and extended up to the stones, leaving them standing proud around its circumference. It comprised two types of sand, a loose orange sand and a hard mottled orange-white sand which was generally the lower; this probably reflects two different quarry sites. The orange-white sand was, as with Church Lawton North (CHER 133/1/2), characterised by iron panning, although here it was not so well defined. This iron pan exhibited the same pattern of horizontal bands and was formed under post-deposition conditions analogous to those prevailing with its northern counterpart.

In one location on the putative ground surface there was a concentration of broken and trampled pottery sherds. The old ground surface has been radio carbon dated to 4100bp +/- 160 (2260-2940bc). Pollen recovered from samples taken from the turves of the mortuary feature and the old ground surface were dominated by tree and shrub pollen (c.80 - 93%). A range of herb pollens were also present in low frequencies suggesting that some open areas were nearby. The local environment appears to have been of relatively undisturbed deciduous alder/oak/lime woodland with a considerable hazel understory. The few herbaceous species may indicate a natural clearing on or near the site.

The stone circle and its rectangular turf structure finds its closest parallel in the circle of 10 standing stones at Balbirnie, Fife at the centre of which a rectangular setting of stones had been sunk into the ground although here the circle is smaller and of more complex design. The real association lies with the monuments of the peak district where the juxtaposition of stone rings, ring cairns and earth circles is common.

<7> English Heritage, 1990-1993, Monuments Protection Programme Site Visit Form, 12/1/1993, Robinson K D (Unpublished Document). SCH5222.

Site visit, 12/01/1993: The site was viewed from the roadside c.50m to the north. There was no evidence of a barrow other than a slight raise in the ground level on top of which the monument had been located. The site was subject to a major rescue operation in 1981; liaison with the excavator confirmed that it had been almost entirely excavated. Since then land improvement has destroyed all traces of the mound. For these reasons the site was not considered suitable for scheduling.

<8> Longley D, 1979, Prehistoric Sites in Cheshire, No .34 (Report). SCH2719.

<9> Malcolm Reid et al, 2014, Once a Sacred and Secluded Place: Early Bronze Age Monuments at Church Lawton, near Alsager, Cheshire, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Vol. 80, p.237-277 (Article in Journal). SCH8354.

Two round barrows were excavated in 1982–3 at Church Lawton near to the eastern edge of the Cheshire and Staffordshire Plain.One of the barrows was defined by a ring of nine glacial boulders and it is possible that these monoliths initially formed a free-standing stone circle. The remains constitute a rare example of the use of stone to enhance a Bronze Age barrow in the lowlands of central western England. Beneath the mound demarcated by the boulders were the burnt remains of a small, roughly rectangular turf stack associated with fragments of clay daub and pieces of timber. No direct evidence of burial was found within the monument. A radiocarbon date suggests that the structural sequence began sometime in the late 3rd–early 2nd millennium cal BC.