Site Event/Activity record ECH6589 - Land at Arley Hall, Cheshire: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment

A desk-based assessment was produced in December 2017 for land at Arley Hall, Cheshire, prior to proposed development. A walkover field survey was also undertaken. No known herigate assets are recorded within the area of interest. The land formed part of the Warburton estates from the twelfth century and may have formed part of the Arley deer park during the later medieval period. The 1744 Arley Hall estate plan shows the majority of the Site as part of ‘Nearer Marl Field’. Field boundaries separated this plot from ‘Further Marl Field’ at the north and ‘Nearer Long Meadow’ at the west. The terms ‘nearer’ and ‘further’ refer to the land’s proximity to Arley Hall. Place-name evidence relating to marling is often divided between references to ‘Marl Pits’, where the marl was actually dug, and ‘Marl Fields’, where the marl was spread; in this case it is uncertain which of these two is appropriate, but no physical evidence for the presence of marl pits has been found. The Site was pasture by 1846 and remained so throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. No buildings are known to have stood within the Site during that period, although a substantial avenue of trees had been planted in the western part of the Site by 1877. The majority of the trees have since fallen or been removed. With the exception of the loss of trees along the avenue, the Site appears to be little changed since the late 19th century. (1)