Site Event/Activity record ECH7397 - Woodfalls Farm, Runcorn, Historic Building Survey: Level II

Level II Building Survey undertaken in 2024 for the barn complex at Woodfalls Farm, Stockham Lane, Runcorn, prior to conversion for residential purposes. The barn complex is depicted on the Tithe Map for Stockham Township of 1843. The barns and outbuildings fall within the curtilage of Woodfalls Farm, a farm complex dating to at least the 18th century. Its name likely derives from the Woodfall family, who were tenants in Stockham in the post-medieval period. The survey evidence has demonstrated that the complex, comprising three barns and a series of outbuildings, retains evidence for at least six phases of construction. The earliest phase (Phase 1) was represented by three walls of dressed sandstone, one of which retained the decorative sill and jamb of a window in excess of 2.15m-wide. The stone walls bear little relation to the later range of buildings, other than having been incorporated as an outshut in the 19th century. It is, on the basis of historical evidence, possible to suggest these walls originated as part of a medieval grange associated with the nearby Norton Priory. Several re-used timbers identified within the outshuts may also relate to other structures on the site, appearing to predate the arrangement of later barns. The later barns were of brick construction. Two of the barns (A and B) were constructed in the late 18th or early 19th century (Phases 2 and 3) and were certainly extant by the time of the survey of the estate of Stockham in 1806-11. These barns were primarily used as shippons. The farm complex was expanded in the early to mid-19th century by a further barn (Phase 4), of which only trace evidence survive having been superseded by a later barn (Barn C) built in the mid to late 19th century (Phase 5). This later addition pre-1877 comprised animal stalling, a cartshed and threshing barn. The entire complex witnessed significant modernisation during the course of the 20th century. The development will have a significant impact upon the historic form and fabric of the farm complex, although the present survey has largely mitigated against these changes. The most substantial impact relates to the proposed demolition of the stone walls, which almost certainly represent medieval fabric. The walls are clearly truncated and the likelihood for further structural remains below ground is high. Recommendations for more detailed survey of the walls and monitoring or excavation would serve as an appropriate means of mitigation.