Summary

Medieval boundary stone marking the north-west boundary of the lands of Vale Royal Abbey where they met with the Delamere Forest. The marker, which is constructed of sandstone, is believed to be roughly in its original location.

Description

Medieval boundary stone marking the north-west boundary of the lands of Vale Royal Abbey where they met with the Delamere Forest. The marker, which is constructed of sandstone, is believed to be roughly in its original location.

The Toolerstone is located on a raised bank on the south side of Hunt's Lane (the latter visible as a hollow way) approximately 26m to the east of Weaverham Road. It consists of a square stone that stands approximately 1m tall. The upper part of the stone is heavily worn and incorporates heavily eroded patterning or markings, which appear to possibly be later graffiti. A small arrow has been spray-painted on to the lower part of the stone's north face. The stone is mounted on a concrete plinth, which was introduced when the stone was returned to the site in 1930; the plinth is barely visible due to vegetation and large sandstones placed in front, which act as a low retaining wall.

History

The Toolerstone is believed to be a medieval boundary marker that defined the boundary of the lands of Vale Royal Abbey, Whitegate, Cheshire where they met with the Delamere Forest. The Cistercian abbey was founded in the C13 by Edward I and was dissolved in 1538/9 under Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.

An abbey ledger book dating to 1359 records the location of a boundary marker: 'from a place where Peytefynsty descends to the commons of Cudyton, to the stone put and ordained there...'. Peytefynsty was an ancient highway that formed the north-western boundary of Vale Royal Abbey and defined the limit of their grazing rights; Hunt's Lane is believed to form part of this route and the Toolerstone is believed to have been one of five known stone markers on the route. The origins of the stone's name remain unknown.

In the C19 the Toolerstone was moved from its original position and re-erected in the grounds of a nearby house known as 'Toolerstone', but in 1930, and using a tithe map of 1838, the stone was returned to its present location on Hunt's Lane.

Reasons for Listing

The Toolerstone is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: it is an important survival of a medieval boundary stone that marked the north-western boundary of the lands of Vale Royal Abbey where they met with the Delamere Forest, and it is believed to be the medieval marker identified in an abbey ledger book dating to 1359.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26676464

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)