Poulton Chapel was a medieval chapel in the hamlet of Poulton, Cheshire, England (grid reference SJ404584), close to the modern border with Wales. It was built around 1153 by the monks of Poulton Abbey. After the monks moved to Dieulacres between 1199 and 1214 and the abbey was turned into a farming estate for the monks, the chapel served as a one room church for the lay brothers working the land. In the 1487 the chapel was expanded when the estate was leased to the Manley family. During the English Civil War (1642-1651) the chapel was used as a stable and lookout. By 1672 it lay in ruins and by 1718 it was demolished. No above ground structures are extant.
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Poulton Chapel in the context of Burial
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objects in it, and covering it over. A funeral is a ceremony that accompanies the final disposition.
Evidence suggests that some archaic and early modern humans buried their dead. Burial is often seen as indicating respect for the dead. It has been used to prevent the odor of decay, to give family members closure and prevent them from witnessing the decomposition of their loved ones, and in many cultures it has been seen as a necessary step for the deceased to enter the afterlife or to give back to the cycle of life.
Poulton Chapel in the context of Poulton Abbey
Poulton Abbey was a Cistercian medieval monastic house in Poulton, Cheshire, England, which was founded between 1153 and 1158, 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 16th century all abbey buildings had been lost, though the site of the chapel was noted on a 17th-century estate map and later on the first Ordnance Survey map (1823).
Archaeological investigations commenced in 1995, first as a joint project of Chester Archaeology and Liverpool University, and later as an independent project – the Poulton Research Project. The chapel was first excavated and just over 800 burials have so far (2015) 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.