<< Our Photo Pages >> Church Lawton South - Stone Circle in England in Cheshire
Submitted by vicky on Friday, 03 January 2003 Page Views: 10515
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Church Lawton South Alternative Name: Church Lawton IIICountry: England County: Cheshire Type: Stone Circle
Nearest Town: Alsager Nearest Village: Church Lawton
Map Ref: SJ808557 Landranger Map Number: 118
Latitude: 53.098152N Longitude: 2.288191W
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 |
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Part of the Church Lawton barrow cemetery, Church Lawton III (South) is now nothing more than a slight hump in a grassy field, but it is one of Cheshire’s most important sites, for beneath the barrow is one of the county’s few known stone circles.
As at other sites in Cheshire and the UK, Church Lawton III was constructed during more than one phase and was used as an ‘open site’ prior to mound construction. Excavations were carried out by Robina McNeil in the early 1980s, revealing a circle between 22m and 23m in diameter of nine huge glacial erratic boulders with entrance gaps to the north and south. Two of the stones stood upright, while the other seven had been deliberately placed on their sides on the old ground surface.
Within the circle stood a turf and daub structure around 2.5m by 1.5m. This appeared to have been burnt and a few fragments of cremated bone were found close by. As to what this structure was originally used for, we cannot be sure but it is possible that it may have been an excarnation platform where the remains of the dead were ‘exposed to the elements’ so that the flesh decomposed before burial.
Once it had served its purpose, the turf and daub structure was covered by a low mound of sand scraped up from the sub-soil within the circle of stones and partially surrounded by a turf wall. No burials or cremations were associated with this mound. This is quite common throughout the UK and archaeologists believe that such barrows were perhaps built to commemorate the death of a person who’s body could not be buried, for example someone who had drowned. However, in other cases it may just be that any bones have been destroyed because of the acidity of the soil in which they were buried.
References:
R. McNeil. “Notes on Church Lawton North and South”, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, Volume 8 (1982)
D.M.Longley “Prehistory” in C.R.Elrington (ed) “The Victoria History of the County of Chester, volume 1, Oxford University Press (1987)
Note: Please note this barrow is located on private land but can be easily viewed from the nearby road.
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