Monument record 1448 - The Armada Beacon

Alderley Beacon, situated on the highest point of the Edge. It is marked on Saxton's map of 1578 and records in Earwaker's possession show that it was in constant use. In the early 18th century the beacon was a 'hollow square room with a door and having an iron pot kept in it for the purpose of holding pitch and tar'. In c.1779 this was altered and the square room was covered in a sharp pointed roof (1). OS describe the beacon as a circular turf-covered mound 28m in diameter and c.4m high. Modern building debris has been dumped on the top. A plaque on it states 'Site of Armada Beacon' (2).Earthwork and buried remains of a stone-built beacon platform on the summit of Beacon Hill. Earthen mound on which it was constructed is considered to have been a bowl barrow of Bronze Age date (see RN:2849). Mound of earth with stone, c.3m above ground level & 25m wide at base. Top of mound was levelled for the foundations of a stone building to support the beacon with its fire basket. This building was constructed in the 16th C, restored in 1779 and blown down in 1931. Only foundations survive. Memorial stone erected in the summit, built of ashlar blocks, probably reused from 1779 restored building. Metal plaque set in top. A good surviving example of a stone-built beacon platform which formed one of a system of beacons erected in England as a aresponse to the threat of invasion during the 16th C (3).
According to (4), only the foundations of this survive today on the top of the beacon mound. It is thought that the ruins of the Beacon blew down in a storm in the 1930's and the remains were demolished but lumps of building stone and brick still litter the undergrowth thereabout. The 16th century Beacon was rebuilt in 1799 on the ruins of the original square building, which in 1804 was inspected by the Duke of Gloucester.the mound may have been artificially raised at the time of the construction of the Beacon but it is also possible that this was the site of a pre-existing Bronze Age tumulus although a Key-Hole Magnetomer survey of the mound failed to provide conclusive results.

<1> Earwaker, J P, 1877-1880, East Cheshire Past & Present, 2/1880/610 (Y) (Book). SCH1080.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ87NE 2.7/1964 (Index). SCH2487.

<3> English Heritage, Various, Old/Original Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Description), 2001/33858 (Scheduling Record). SCH4606.

<3> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), 2001/33858 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

<4> 1998, Alderley Edge Landscape Project Archive (Unpublished Report). SCH4334.