Site Event/Activity record ECH6307 - An Historic Building Survey of a Barn attached to Rose Cottage, Moston, Sandbach.

Building survey prior to conversion of a redundant farm building. The building is thought to date from the mid-19th century and is considered to be of significant heritage as it has been recognised that the period between 1750 – 1880 is the most important period of farm building development in England (English Heritage 2006). As a result, outlined in the Council for British Archaeology’s ‘An Archaeological Research Framework for North West England: Volume 2, Research Agenda and Strategy’ (Brennand 2007) is a recommendation that all farm buildings undergoing adaptation should be subject to a recording survey so that “a regional database of farm buildings can be derived and variations across the region be examined The building appears to have been built sometime after 1840 most likely as a combination arrangement comprising a stable, storage loft and cart shed. The building then appears to have been structurally modified both internally and externally - perhaps when the use of horsepower became redundant – and the interior sub-divided into three areas, probably in the 20th century. The original roof collapsed due to rusty nails and was replaced wholesale by the current owners. The original packed stone inner floor surfaces were covered over with concrete in the 1980’s along with outer courtyard, the western and central spaces were then divided into upper and lower floors with the ground floor rooms adapted into pig sties. Since then, the building has fallen out of use and is a state of dereliction and partial collapse.