<< Our Photo Pages >> Poulton Timber Circle - Ancient Village or Settlement in England in Cheshire
Submitted by blingo on Tuesday, 17 April 2007 Page Views: 19387
Multi-periodSite Name: Poulton Timber Circle Alternative Name: Poulton Research ProjectCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 1.995 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Cheshire Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Chester
Map Ref: SJ4033558472
Latitude: 53.120069N Longitude: 2.89297W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
Photos of the Timber Circle Reconstruction Project in Cheshire. [Unfortunately the site was mis-identified as a timber circle and is in fact a roundhouse - see note below in the comments section] Blingo writes (2007): For the last few months I’ve been involved with the reconstruction of a Bronze Age timber circle, situated on the border of Cheshire and Wales just south of Chester, at a site known as ‘The Poulton Research Project’.
I have been compiling a photographic diary of the various stages of construction, which will be a first for timber circles in Great Britain. There has been another reconstructed in County Meath, Ireland, but no photo diary of the construction (to my knowledge). With the help of Shane Callaghan, (and the permission off Mike Emery and Alan Wilmshurst) I have also recorded it on video. This has been turned into a ‘Time-lapse’ version currently running at 3 minutes long. There is a final stage to be recorded which hopefully will be very soon. The time conversion is in relation of 5 minutes recording to 1 second play back
The process of construction was started with the placement of canes to indicate where the post holes were since the original excavation had been backfilled. From this turf holes were dug to indicate where and how wide the holes should be dug. Everyone involved with Poulton took part in the digging and after a few hours the holes were ready. Next a shallow henge was created to enclose the circle. We then covered the inner area with straw and bracken. This was then burned to bake the post holes and to cleanse the site. The baking process turned the clay solid like an ancient kind of concrete! The post holes where still smoking 2 days later as shown on the pics. The posts were then erected and (I feel) the site was reborn 3 and a half – 4 thousand years later. The Winter Solstice came a couple of weeks after the posts were in place and was one of the best I’ve experienced in quite a few years. We’re currently waiting for stone to arrive to finish off the timber circle, and finish the time-lapse.
We have also been experimenting with different kinds of photography on the site including 3d, infra-red and (my favourite) night photography involving long exposures and fire-balls!
There has been geo-phys which indicates a larger ring ditch but will have to wait and see what develops as other projects are in the pipe line. Infact the team are going to reconstruct a roundhouse soon which was donated from Liverpool’s 'Museum of Life'. Hopefully I’ll be able to time-lapse that as well. The whole process with the recording, editing and working out time speeds has been a lengthy one, but has been well worth it.
The time-lapse video will be made available through the Poulton Henge official website, which has more detailed information on the archaeology regarding the timber circle, the reconstruction [archive links] and other Poulton projects [current link].
Poulton was featured recently on ‘Time Team’ (1.5.07) and can be seen on ‘4od’ (channel4.com). This programme didn’t have the timber circle on it, but there is a clip on YouTube, see it below for a copy.
NOTE: that the reconstruction is on Private land and access to the site is via appointment.
Note: Blingo's photographic diary and video, visit the Project web site for more
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive OS mapKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
2.5km SSE 164° Knowl Plantation Barrow Cemetery (SJ410561)
2.8km SSE 163° Churton* Long Barrow (SJ411558)
3.6km W 259° St Peter's Well (Denbighshire) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ36735784)
5.5km N 6° Heronbridge Roman Strip Settlement Ancient Village or Settlement (SJ410639)
6.7km WSW 238° The Atropos Altar Stone* Sculptured Stone (SJ34645497)
7.1km N 2° Chester Minerva shrine* Ancient Temple (SJ40676561)
7.5km N 0° Grosvenor Museum* Museum (SJ40466595)
7.5km SW 216° Borras Quarry Neolithic Village Ancient Village or Settlement (SJ35855243)
7.6km N 3° Roman Garden & Hypocaust (Chester)* Ancient Village or Settlement (SJ40786607)
7.6km SE 128° Carden Park* Cave or Rock Shelter (SJ463537)
7.7km N 4° St John the Baptist Church, Chester* Ancient Cross (SJ40916613)
7.7km N 3° Roman Amphitheatre (Chester)* Ancient Temple (SJ40836616)
7.7km ESE 114° St Winefride's (Clutton)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ47395524)
7.8km N 6° Billy Hobby's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SJ4127766202)
7.8km SE 129° Carden Park Barrow Round Barrow(s) (SJ46365352)
7.8km N 0° Dewa Roman Experience* Museum (SJ405663)
8.6km SW 236° Bryn Alyn* Hillfort (SJ33125370)
8.7km SW 222° Wrexham Gorsedd Circle Modern Stone Circle etc (SJ3436752064)
9.0km W 262° Caer Estyn* Hillfort (SJ314574)
9.3km W 269° Hope Church Early Medieval Stones* Ancient Cross (SJ310584)
9.8km WSW 258° Siambr Gladdu Abermorddu* Cairn (SJ30695648)
10.2km W 271° Park in the Past* Museum (SJ301588)
10.5km WSW 254° Plas Maen Stone* Rock Art (SJ3015555755)
10.7km SW 221° Wrexham County Borough Museum* Museum (SJ3318950455)
10.8km ENE 59° Brookhouse Farm Ancient Village or Settlement (SJ497639)
View more nearby sites and additional images