Poulton Abbey

Poulton Abbey was a Cistercian medieval monastic house in Cheshire, England, which was founded in 1147 and moved in 1214 to a site near Leek, Staffordshire, where it became Dieulacres Abbey. The original site became a grange estate of the abbey, and the chapel at the site was used as a one-room local church. In 1487 the abbey leased the estate to the prominent Manley family and the chapel was expanded to include a nave, chancel, and tower for use as its private chapel. By the 20th century all abbey buildings had been lost, though the site of the chapel was noted on a 17th-century estate map. Archaeological investigations began in 1995, first as a joint project of Chester Archaeology and Liverpool University, and later as an independent project. The chapel was first excavated and just under 800 burials have so far been excavated. Evaluation trenches and geophysical investigations have also found an extensive Iron Age settlement and Roman landscape. The main monastic compound has not been found.[1] On June 20-23, 2006, the archaeological television programme Time Team did an evaluation of a site known as Poulton Hall to the north of the chapel site to determine whether it might be the site of the Abbey buildings. The investigation determined that the site was probably the location of the grange buildings, but not the Abbey itself.[2][3] The site is a scheduled monument.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Emery, Mike (July 2002). "Poulton: the search for a lost Cistercian abbey". Current Archaeology (180): 520–525.
  2. ↑ "Poulton Hall, Pulford, Cheshire: Archaeological evaluation and assessment of results" (PDF). Wessex Archaeology on behalf of Videotext Communications Ltd. April 2007. p. 21. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  3. ↑ "The Abbey Habit". Time Team. Season 14. 1 April 2007. Channel 4 (UK).
  4. ↑ "Pouton abbey and chapel". Pastscape. English Heritage. Retrieved 2013-04-22.

External links

Coordinates: 53°07′09″N 2°53′33″W / 53.1192°N 2.8924°W