Some of the Tenon Top Gateposts found in the Brindle/Chorley/Leyland area
I have been investigating a strange lone stone post in a remote part of Duxbury Woods near Chorley for the last couple of years, which does not have any fittings for a gate, or any obvious purpose, but has a tenon mysteriously placed on top of it. It is known as 'The John Stone' as this section of Duxbury Woods is called John Wood, and the neighboring field John Field. The Knights of St John Hospitallers had lands in this part of Duxbury.
Aided by the release of 1m lidar in 2019 for Duxbury Woods, I was able in March this year to carry out a ground survey of the surrounding area before the undergrowth grew back making the area inaccessible. A ditch runs past the John Stone as well as a hidden trackway, 3m wide, that runs across the slope down to The John Stone. Parts of the slope the trackway runs along has eroded, and the trackway does not appear on any OS maps or estate maps suggesting it has some age to it. At the end of the trackway, and behind the John Stone is a relatively level area, shown on the 1757 estate map, in which there are several large pits. There seems to be no easy way of determining the age of the stone. It has several large patches of lichen on it, which will have taken hundreds of years to grow.
My breakthrough came when I recently sent a picture of the John Stone to Bill Aldridge. He spotted that it is an example of what is known locally as a 'Tenon Top Gatepost'. He had an image of a similar post in his article about a visit in 2018 trying to find where Chorley Archaeology had found a section of road on Heapey Fold Lane.
Google is much more powerful when you know what terms to search for. I found a few examples posted by walkers in the area, so I have spent the last couple of weeks tracking down these and have found many more in the area. Chorley Archaeology members have investigated Tenon Top Gateposts in the past, and from what I have read, it would appear that there may have been as many as 30 or more in the Leyland/Eccleston/Chorley/Brindle area. There is also an article published by the Leyland Historical Society that records an old lane with 6 Tenon Top Gateposts on it between Leyland and Eccleston.
So far I have visited over a dozen Tenon Top Gateposts. Some are gate posts, or been converted at a later point, but most are single posts, with no fittings for a gate. The tenon varies in size, but the most common size is around 20cm x 10cm x 10cm (the size of a house brick).
They are weathered, and have lichen growing on them (lichenometry could be used to give an estimate of age). Most are hidden away on old lanes or footpaths.
The greatest concentration I have found is around Brindle, but I have found some as far as Longton in the West, Wyre Archaeology have found one at Brock Bottoms in the North, and I have my John Stone in the South. I believe that there are a couple at Eccleston to be found.
Brindle has strong Catholic recusant history, and is close to Hoghton Tower which saw Civil War action. In the early 17th century there were many "unlawful meetings of Papist" in Brindle Mass houses. This activity revolved around Edmund Arrowsmith who was executed at Lancaster Castle in 1628 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He ministered to the Catholics in the Brindle, Whittle-le-Woods and Leyland area and held Mass at several Mass houses. This was a secretive activity, with Edmund Arrowsmith only mentioning where he would next hold Mass close to the event. Catholic recusants often had ways of signalling to each other where Mass would be held next (washing on hedges for example). Could the Tenon Top Gateposts have been used, maybe with a temporary wooden socketed beam placed on top to make the rough shape of a cross, as a sign as to where and when the next Mass would be held?
If you look at where these Mass houses were, and the routes that Edmund Arrowsmith is reported to have travelled (Leyland, Whittle-le-Woods, Brindle, Gregson Lane, Brinscall, Wheelton, Withnall), there is a similarity with the location of the Tenon Topped Gateposts in the area. St Helens Well at Whittle-le-Woods where Mass was often held, is also central to this area, and Edmund Arrowsmith is known to have spent time at Swansey House near by.
As Tenon Topped Gateposts are also found outside the immediate Brindle area, other topics are being considered. There is a correlation with lands held by Penwortham Priory, lands held by Cockersands Abbey, lands held by the Knights of St John Hospitallers and Royalist areas in the 17th century. Many of the Tenon Top Gateposts are also situated on, or near, significant boundaries.
So what are Tenon Top Gateposts and who put them up? My favourite candidate at the moment is Edmund Arrowsmith (or his predecessors/successors) but a link to the outlying areas (Duxbury/Brock Bottoms/Longton) is yet to be found.
Over the next year I will be carrying out further investigations. Winter time will be the best time as the posts are often hidden and overgrown by hedges.
I hope that by plotting the locations of all Tenon Top Gateposts in ArcGis, along with all the other research material gathered, I will be able to determine a correlation and then suggest the age and purpose of these mysterious posts. That in turn, will help me age the John Stone in Duxbury Woods.
Map of findings to date
Key: Star = location of Tenon Top Gatepost. Click on the star for more details Diamond = Penwortham Priory lands Square = Knights Hospitaller lands
Survey
By recording the position of each Tenon Topped Gatepost, and by looking at the history of land ownership and other similarities, we might be able to better determine the age and purpose of these mysterious stones.
I am collating the following data sets in ArcGis Online (see map above for latest results).
position of each Tenon Topped Gatepost as we find them
location of lands owned by Penwortham Priory
location of lands owned by Cockersands Abbey
location of Royalist Houses during the Civil War
location of lands owned by the Knights of St John Hospitallers
missionary district of St. Edmund Arrowsmith and the Brindle Mission
So far, all of the Tenon Topped Gateposts have been found in the Leyland/Chorley/Eccleston area, but now Wyre Archeology have found one laying in the River Brock near Claughton. So how many more are there? Are they found in other areas of Lancashire?
If you know of any other Tenon Topped Gateposts, or have a suggestion as to their use and purpose, please submit your thoughts on the form below to be added into this survey.