More information : [SJ 40365836] Site of CHAPEL [G.T.] (1)
"Poulton, Cheshire. Cistercian Abbey, founded 1153, dissolved 1214 (a) Janauschek (b) favours 1158, the date noted on the reverse of the foundation charter. Perhaps all that can be said with certainty is that Poulton was founded after 1153 and before 1158 [and was moved to] Dieulacres after 1199(c) [See SJ 95 NE 1] (2)
"The king granted to Sir George Cotton...the...chapel of Pulton by Patent dated Dec. 20 1544..." 'The remains of the monastery have been long totally destroyed' (3)
'After the Transfer of the abbey to Dieulacres, a grange and chapel were maintained at Poulton by the monks... Poulton chapel was in decay 1672 and there are now no visible remains above ground of the Abbey or any of its subsidiary buildings...About 18 years ago...Mr. Minshull the farmer said that two years previously he had ploughed a field between the site and the Dee and had uncovered a large number of bones and a few stones but nothing more...Mr R.G. Williams...made considerable excavations on the site of the chapel...about 1892...Mr. Williams...pointed out places where he had found ...encaustic tiles which, together with notes, he had presented to Canon Rupert Morris' Poulton Chapel is mentioned in a will of 1519, and Priers Meadow is named in a grant of land in 1569. "Chaplain of Poulton Chapel is mentioned"(a) temp. Henry VIII (4)
Stones scattered along the hedges to the S and E are probably from the chapel. There is no other trace. (5)
Survey and sample excavation in 1995 revealed the footings of a substantial masonry structure, undoubtedly the chapel. Air photographs indicate a second masonry struscture, aligned North-South, to the North of the chapel. Inhumations, presumably associated with the Abbey, were also discovered. (6)
The abbey could not have been founded later than 1153 because Ranulf de Gernon, Earl of Chester, confimed its foundation (initially agreed by Robert Pincerna, his leigeman) and made various gifts of land and services to the abbey. De Gernon died in December 1153. (7) |