Monument record 870 - Civil War Earthworks in Tarporley

Entrenchments from AD 1642, from a skirmish in a field adjacent to the church in Tarporley. Gives a grid Reference of SJ54506260 (1). "There are some indistinct traces of entrenchments in the meadows adjacent to the church, which most probably have reference to a skirmish between the royalists and the parliamentarians in 1642, in which the latter were defeated." (2). Sir Thomas Aston broke up a "parliamentary rendezvous" at Tarporley in early 1643 (3). Skirmish took place on the 21st Febuary 1642 (4). Linear and other, as yet unidentified earthworks are clearly visible on aerial photographs dating from the 1940s. The unidentified earthworks may be associated with the extraction of clay or peat cutting (5). Earthworks appear to have been ploughed flat (6).

<1> Cheshire County Council, 1974, County Treasures Record, 4/A.221 (Index). SCH1000.

<2> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol II p.229 (Book). SCH1389.

<3> Dore R N, 1966, The Civil Wars in Cheshire, p.26 (Book). SCH3108.

<4> Cheshire County Council, 2002, Cheshire Historic Towns Survey: Vale Royal Borough Part 1: Archaeological Assessments, p.86 (Tarporley) (Report). SCH4760.

<5> Royal Air Force, 1944-1947, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH8041.

<5> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

<6> The GeoInformation Group, 1999-2001, Millennium Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH4609.