Site Event/Activity record ECH3723 - Cotton Hall, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire: An Archaeological Assessment of the Medieval East Wing

An archaeological assessment was undertaken in 1998 of the medieval east wing of Cotton Hall, Holmes Chapel. Cotton Hall, which is Grade II* Listed, is a complex building with many phases, dating from at least the fourteenth century. It originated as a manorial site with a central, open hall flanked by solar and servants' quarters. During the later sixteenth century, the open hall was substantially rebuilt and the hall buildings extended. The open hall had a ceiling inserted and a jettied two storey timber-framed cross wing added. The later alterations, from the seventeenth century onwards, chart the site's decline in social status, culminating in the sale of the estate, with the hall then becoming a farm. The most significant feature of the building is its open hall, the surviving medieval decorated spere truss and the decorated arch-braced truss. (1)