A time capsule of a time capsule: A charcoal filled pit within Poulton Chapel graveyard

The Poulton Project is a research excavation founded with the purpose of identifying the location of a short-lived Cistercian Abbey, recorded in historical documents as being established during the civil wars of Stephen and Matilda in the twelfth century. After only six decades, it was translated to Dieulacres in Staffordshire, offering archaeologists the unique opportunity to study a monastic complex in its initial form. Although the location remains unidentified, the search led to the investigation of a late medieval chapel (centred on SJ 40092 58513) first discovered by the landowner in the 1960s. Systematic excavation has revealed this to be the burial ground for the lay folk and their families who farmed the land for the Cistercians. In 2017 a pit was discovered beneath several burials in the graveyard, which provided our first glimpse of the monastic landscape. A stone capping had preserved a single charcoal rich backfill event of domestic hearth waste. Environmental analysis has provided extensive information on landuse, trade, and the local environment during this enigmatic period in Cheshire’s history

Poulton, Cheshire: The investigation of a rural chapel in an evolving medieval landscape

This article presents the results of the radiocarbon dating programme and interpretation of a medieval chapel and graveyard in Poulton, Cheshire. The structure was associated with a lost Cistercian Abbey of 12th-13th-century date, which was relocated to Staffordshire after c. 60 years. Extensive excavation has revealed a minimum of 783 interments, interpreted as the remains of the farming community who worked the land after the monks’ departure. The role of the chapel within the early Cistercian landscape has proved enigmatic, although archaeological investigation has enabled a detailed understanding of the development of this ecclesiastical structure. The radiocarbon dating programme has revealed the chronology of the graveyard. By combining this new evidence with the historical record and archaeological data, an interpretation of the changing role of the chapel within the evolving medieval landscape is presente

The co-operative university: Labour, property and pedagogy

I begin this article by discussing the recent work of academics and activists to identify the advantages and issues relating to co-operative forms of higher education, and then focus on the ‘worker co-operative’ organisational form and its applicability and suitability to the governance of and practices within higher educational institutions. Finally, I align the values and principles of worker co-ops with the critical pedagogic framework of ‘Student as Producer’. Throughout I employ the work of Karl Marx to theorise the role of labour and property in a ‘co-operative university’, drawing particularly on later Marxist writers who argue that Marx’s labour theory of value should be understood as a critique of labour under capitalism, rather than one developed from the standpoint of labour

Dividend Stickiness in Japan

markdownabstract__Abstract__ The paper describes the introduction of an emphasis on ‘personal security’ in human security thinking and practice, as part of the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to compartmentalize the pursuit of security. It reviews the past twenty years of attention to ‘personal security’: both in compartments that consider organized physical violence or threats to personal safety and property (‘citizen security’), and as parts of more wide-ranging examination of threats to fulfilment of basic needs and rights, for example in comprehensive mapping exercises undertaken in various UNDP Regional and National Human Development Reports or in studies of women’s security. The paper reflects on the complex process of opening-up conventional security thinking and practice, seeking value-added and depth without shrinking into preconceived compartments

Long-term cognitive and emotional impact of genetic testing for carriers of cystic fibrosis: The effects of test result and gender

The cognitive and emotional responses to genetic testing for carriers of cystic fibrosis (CF) of 241 female and 36 male carriers and a matched sample who had received a negative screening result were compared 3 years after testing. The main predictor of responses to testing was the type of result received. Gender differences in response to screening were also found: Women were more likely to feel relieved and less likely than men to feel indifferent, regardless of test results. There was an interaction between test results and gender for feeling happy and healthy about test results. The greater impact of testing on women may reflect gender differences in appraisal or in coping with the threat of being a carrier for a genetic disorder