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Poulton in Cheshire was once home to a small community of Cistercian monks, who founded an abbey on the banks of the river Dee on the Welsh border. After only 60 years, however, the monks grew tired of continued incursions from the Welsh and in 1214 they took up an invitation by Ranulf de Blundeville, earl of Chester and lord of Leek, to move to a new site just outside Leek, in Staffordshire, at Dieulacres Abbey.
The Poulton Research Project has been investigating the history of the abbey at Poulton since 1995, with some outstanding results. The project's discoveries have included a blocked-up medieval-stone staircase leading into the ground on a site named as 'Poulton Hall' on a 17th-century estate map, while 700 metres away an early chapel has been located that has so many burials that students in forensic archaeology are now trained on the site.
Could 'Poulton Hall' be the former abbey, later re-used as a monastic grange (an agricultural estate) and manor house by the Manley family, who are known to have lived there in the 15th and 16th centuries?
Time Team was asked for its help in piecing together the history of this monastic landscape.
Lip-smacking Mick
The prospect of discovering a lost Cistercian abbey was one that had monastery-loving Mick Aston smacking his lips in anticipation. 'Not only a lost monastery, but it was only there for 60 years. So if we could find it, it would be a major discovery – a real time capsule to show us what these places were like during that particular period,' he said.
Well, finding a monastery can't be that difficult, can it? All those buildings for the monks to live, study and pray in, the abbot's house, the monastic church – not to mention all the ancillary structures of a fully functioning monastic estate. What shall we do with the rest of the three days?
In reality, it's not as easy as it might seem. The fact that the abbey at Poulton was only there for a little over half a century was not only an exciting opportunity, as Mick saw it, but also a major obstacle. It was quite likely, given its short lifespan, that it comprised mainly timber buildings and was never rebuilt in stone, unlike its longer lasting contemporaries. Whatever traces it left in the landscape would be hard to distinguish from other structures, of which a number are known from historical records, maps, plans and investigations carried out by the Poulton Research Project. Abbey estates were also extensive, so the site of a long-demolished structure might not be obvious.
Two targets
Time Team targeted two principal locations for excavations. One involved the site of a medieval chapel, where some 56 burials were excavated by the Poulton Research Project from 1995 to 1998. The other was the site of the former Poulton Hall, occupied by the Manley family during the 15th and 16th centuries and marked on a 17th-century map. This was where a medieval-stone staircase leading into the ground had been found in earlier excavations, together with various walls, surfaces and other remains.
Neither turned out to be the site of the original Cistercian monastery. The chapel was identified as a capella ante portas, a 'chapel by the gate' available for the use of locals or visitors to the monastery without the need for them to intrude on the monks. (The Cistercian Order was extremely protective of its isolation from the outside world.)
A monastic grange
The Poulton Hall site required some more careful deciphering as it had gone through various building stages and comprised various walls, earthworks and other features. After extensive excavations, however, it was concluded that none of these related to the original abbey buildings. The medieval remains here were identified as a monastic grange – the centre of an agricultural estate that continued to be run by its monastic landlords after their relocation to Dieulacres Abbey.
The grange would have been centred around a courtyard overlooked by half-timbered buildings, with a gated entrance in the front range and the two side ranges made up of agricultural and service areas with stables, buttery, kitchen and other facilities. A horse's stirrup was found here during the excavations.
The fourth block would have been a high status living area, as evidenced by the high quality tiles that were found redeposited in the foundations and floor areas of later construction phases. This remained unexcavated, however, as the plan of the grange was only finally determined late on the third day.
Landscape detective
As for the location of the abbey, cue Stewart Ainsworth for another piece of landscape detective work. He pointed out how the stream that runs through the site is diverted from its natural route – which is 'exactly what you'd expect to see from Cistercian water works'. The Cistercians were well known for their hydrologic engineering and Stewart identified a field in the crook of the current river course as a probable location for the abbey buildings. Unfortunately, any remains must lie under a metre or more of alluvial deposits, as a result of repeated flooding of the field over the past seven centuries. Not even 'geofizz' could penetrate that sufficiently clearly to see whether Stewart was right, so Poulton Abbey still has a few secrets left to reveal.
The Cistercians established a number of houses in medieval Cheshire. The first was founded at Combermere in 1133, and it was monks from there who established the abbey at Poulton in 1147.
According to the abbey chronicle, the abbey and its lands were prey to frequent raiders from Wales, so that in 1214 the abbot accepted an invitation by Ranulf de Blundeville, earl of Chester and lord of Leek, to move to a new site. This was just outside Leek, in Staffordshire, at Dieulacres Abbey.
Legend has it that the earl had a vision one night in which his grandfather, Ranulf de Gernons, told him to go to Leek and found a Cistercian abbey there on the site of a former chapel of the Virgin Mary. De Gernons also instructed his grandson to move the monks of Poulton to this new abbey. When the earl told his wife of his vision she is supposed to have said 'Deux encres!' – 'May god grant it increase' – so that he named the abbey Deulencres, which later became Dieulacres.
Although the monks moved to the new site, the property at Poulton was retained by Dieulacres Abbey. Indeed, it was greatly extended over the next century, until the estate covered 3,000 or so acres, of which around 1,900 acres were devoted to arable farming. As well as the monastic grange, or agricultural estate, at Poulton itself, at least three other granges were established in the near vicinity.
The Cistercians' skill in hydrologic engineering led them to drain the land, redirect the local stream and construct a series of fish ponds and other structures. They were so successful in their activities that by 1401, Poulton was the third largest source of tax revenues in Cheshire, behind only the urban areas of Chester and Malpas.
In the 15th century, however, the abbey lands at Poulton were leased to the Manley family. The Manleys took over Poulton Grange and it became Poulton Hall. The hall was not finally demolished until 1894, although all other traces of monastic buildings apart from the chapel had long since disappeared.
Poulton Abbey was one of more than a hundred monasteries founded by the Cistercian Order in England in the century following its arrival in the country at Waverley in 1128. What else do you know about the Cistercians? Try our quick quiz to see how you get on.
What was the main principle on which the Cistercians were founded when a group of monks left their abbey at Molesme in Burgundy in 1098?
Strict observance of the Rule of St Benedict
Loyalty to Pope Urban II
Economic self sufficiency
The Cistercians were often known by the colour of their habits. Which of the following are they?
Black Monks
Brown Monks
White Monks
The Cistercians' emphasis on manual labour and their resulting skills in agriculture led to them becoming major exporters of what in medieval England?
Wool
Apples
Barley
The Cistercians became the biggest producers of what in the Champagne region of France during the 13th-17th centuries?
Champagne
Iron ore
Wheat
What was the name of the Cistercian abbey immortalised in verse by William Wordsworth?
Fountains Abbey
Rievaulx Abbey
Tintern Abbey
Which of these Cistercian abbeys is a Unesco world heritage site?
Fountains Abbey
Rievaulx Abbey
Tintern Abbey
Answers here.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Monasteries in the Landscape by Mick Aston (Tempus, 2000) £17.99
This is a revised, rewritten and extensively updated edition of Mick Aston's 1993 book Monasteries (long since out of print), which focused on the place of the monasteries in the British landscape. In this new book he explains how and why monasticism developed in Britain and why monasteries were placed where they were. The book looks beyond the closed world of the monastery, abbey or priory, to examine their agricultural, industrial and commercial activities that had a huge impact on the surrounding countryside and towns.
Get this book
Cistercian Europe: Architecture of contemplation by Terryl N Kinder (Cistercian Publications, 2002) US price $70
Co-published with Cistercian Publications in Kalamazoo, Michigan, this large format and beautifully illustrated volume provides a complete introduction to the Cistercians' medieval abbeys and the monastic order that created them.
Get this book
Medieval Monasteries by Patrick Greene (Continuum, 2005) paperback £27.99
This new and updated edition provides an accessible account of the archaeology of medieval monastic houses throughout Britain and Ireland. As well as discussing many of the advances made by research over the last two decades, innovative methods of archaeological investigation are described, and examples of good practice in the preservation of sites and their interpretation to visitors are provided. Suggestions for further research, examples of outstanding monastic sites to visit, a glossary of terms, a comprehensive bibliography and an index are also included.
Get this book
Discovering Abbeys and Priories by Geoffrey Wright (Shire, 1998) paperback £5.99
This user-friendly handbook clarifies the difference between abbeys and priories, traces the history of monasteries from Anglo-Saxon times to the dissolution, and describes the different monastic orders. Considerable reference is made to sites open to the public.
Get this book
Abbeys and Priories by Glyn Coppack (Batsford/English Heritage, 1990) paperback £15.99
This well-illustrated introduction to the archaeology of monasteries explains the development of the variations on the familiar layout of church and cloisters; it discusses the monastic precincts and such fundamental topics as the drainage and sanitation.
Get this book
Life in a Medieval Abbey by Tony McAleavy (English Heritage, 1996) paperback £6.95
Colourful picture book explaining monasticism in simple terms, from a 'who's who' of medieval monks to an evaluation of the political role of the church in medieval England. Distinguished from other guides by some brilliant reconstruction paintings.
Get this book
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Poulton Research Project
www.poultonproject.org/index.shtml
Time Team came to Poulton at the invitation of the Poulton Research Project, and project director Mike Emery and site supervisor Alan Wilmhurst featured in the programme. The project was established in 1995 by Liverpool University and Chester Archaeology and has evolved from landscape archaeology research and undergraduate training into a community-based programme encompassing, among others, special needs and blind groups.
The project website contains a large amount of information on the various excavations and discoveries that have taken place on the site, including a Bronze-Age 'wood henge' and a mass of Roman material, as well as the medieval remains that Time Team focused on. Various site reports, maps, photos, a finds gallery, histories and other information are assembled here. There is also a facility for online registration for students and volunteers wanting to get involved in the summer excavations.
Cistercians in Yorkshire Project
http://cistercians.shef.ac.uk
The Cistercians, or 'White Monks', who founded Poulton Abbey, played a major role in the religious and economic life of medieval England. Some of their major houses, including the world heritage site of Fountains Abbey, are in Yorkshire, and this website focuses on these centres of the Cistercian way of life. The project incorporates the newest technologies in three-dimensional modelling with rigorous conventional historical and archaeological research and expert architectural analysis, and the website contains various multimedia features, games and quizzes as well as more conventional material. It also includes a glossary and detailed gazetteer with information about every Cistercian abbey, including Poulton.
For links to other websites, either on archaeology generally or specific to the periods and subjects raised in the programme, see our extensive section on Archaeology websites. In particular, see the section on the Medieval era.
What was the main principle on which the Cistercians were founded when a group of monks left their abbey at Molesme in Burgundy in 1098?
Strict observance of the Rule of St Benedict
The Cistercians were often known by the colour of their habits. Which of the following are they?
White Monks
The Cistercians' emphasis on manual labour and their resulting skills in agriculture led to them becoming major exporters of what in medieval England?
Wool
The Cistercians became the biggest producers of what in the Champagne region of France during the 13th-17th centuries?
Iron ore
What was the name of the Cistercian abbey immortalised in verse by William Wordsworth?
Tintern Abbey
Which of these Cistercian abbeys is a Unesco world heritage site?
Fountains Abbey