Site Event/Activity record ECH3946 - Clayhanger Hall, Crewe, Cheshire: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment

A desk based assessment was undertaken in 2003 for Clayhanger Hall, Crewe. It reports of a fossilized medieval landscape of cultivation remains preserved as earthworks, more extensively visible as cropmarks from air photographs, within the application area and around Clayhanger Hall Farm. This ancient landscape would seem to relate to a settlement at Clayhanger with an attendant chapel. Shrinkage of the settlement and change to the agricultural economy in the late Middle Ages and early post-medieval times led to a pattern of ancient closes and paddocks being developed, represented today as a series of hedged boundaries also shown on early 19th century maps. Although no historic buildings or archaeological artefacts have been found on the application area itself circumstantial evidence from the surrounding countryside would suggest a presence from prehistoric times, represented by stone tools, and industrial activities such as brick-making in the post-medieval period, and possibly salt-working from Iron Age and Roman times. (1)