Monument record 1944/1 - Huntington Hall Moated Site

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ 46 SW 2 (Index). SCH2487.

[SJ 4202 6348] Foundations of a building and the remains of a well have been encountered when digging in the orchard [site indicated to investigator]. The present house is known as Old Hall, Huntington. [E. Geary. F.I. 12/11/1954].

No trace of any building exists in the area indicated. The land in the vicinity is slightly higher than the remainder of the moated area and a likely site for the house referred to in Simpson (see 2) and The Cheshire Sheaf (see 3). The moat has an average width of ten metres and a maximum depth of two metres. It is water-filled except for the eastern half of the south side. The southern part of the east side had been widened to form a pond. There is an outer bank on all sides except the east. This bank has an average width of seven metres and varies in height from 0.4 to 0.8 metres. A shallow ditch running north-south divides the enclosed area in two. This ditch, which is dry, has an average width of twelve metres and a depth of 0.6 metres. It is probably the remains of an inner moat. Access to the enclosed area is by stone bridge at SJ 4204 6347 and by modern causeway at SJ 4203 6342. The bridge is of single span with segmented arch. It has no dateable features but its proximity to the probable site of the Hall suggests that it may be the original entrance. None of the existing farm building shows any trace of antiquity and the farmhouse is apparently of late eighteenth / early nineteenth century date. [E. Geary. F.I. 12/11/1954].

Old Hall is owned by the Liverpool Corporation Water Department, although still occupied by a tenant. The moat is now entirely dry except for the southern portion of the eastern side which has been widened to form a pond. Some filling in has also taken place close to the south-eastern angle which has been used as a rubbish dump. The moat is otherwise as described by E. Geary. F.I. The site of the building foundations unearthed by the tennant within the moated area was indicated to E. Geary and has been surveyed on 25 inch AM. A 25 inch AM re-survey has also been made of the moat. [D.A. Davis F.I. 31/08/1959].

Published survey (25 inch 1960) revised. [T.P.Waggot. F.I. 16/07/196].

A double homestead moat, as described by E. Geary and D.A. Davies, it measures, overall, 180 metres east-west by 120 metres transversely. The site is largely wooded and in fair condition. Within the south-west corner of the moat, are three rectangular waterfilled medieval fishponds forming three sides of a square open to the east. The western pond measures twenty-eight metres by seven metres, the southern pond, fourteen metres by five metres, and the northern pond, being low in water, is of irregular shape, but approximates to the southern pond. Published 1:2500 survey revised. [ASP 27/02/1976].

<2> Simpson F, 1908, The River Dee, p.107 (Article in Journal). SCH9563.

In 1772 Huntington Hall belonged to Richard Williams, Esq., of Mold, whose father was Rector of Hawarden. This Hall was at one time a residence of importance, but all trace of the ancient manor house has disappeared: there is, however, a moat still left in a piece of land adjoining the present hall, and within it the mansion stood.

<3> Chester Courant, 1878-1990, The Cheshire Sheaf, (Third Series) Vol.XXXIV p.97 [7688] (Newspaper-Magazine). SCH3105.

About two miles south of Chester, there is a moated site between the road to Aldford and the river, in which stands the farm house known as Huntington Hall. William Webb, in his itinerary of Broxton Hundred in the early part of the seventeenth century, writes that "the capital manor" of the lordship of Huntington "is a very neat house of timber," implying thereby that the hall was one of those black and white structures of timber framework with filling of wattle and daub. A purchaser in 1589 had power to pull down the then existing hall, evidently also a timber structure, but it seems more than possible that he did not do so as in 1648 a document makes reference to the Hall of Huntington and all buildings, dovehouses, pooles, motes, poole banks, etc.

<4> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, Vol.IV p.117 (Book). SCH3228.

On Bryant's 1831 map (see 5), Huntington Hall is labelled Little Huntington, and the Hall Farm is labelled Huntington Hall. The latter is a moated site, probably "the grange of the abbot of Chester at Huntynton" mentioned in a document of 1348.

<5> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

The moat is depicted on this map. The northern arm is extends further to the west (is longer) than the southern arm, giving the moat a trapezoidal shape. No buildings are depicted within the moat. Labelled Huntington Hall.

<6> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1012112 (Web Site). SCH6528.

The moated site at Huntington Hall survives relatively undamaged and is therefore of high archaeological potential. The waterlogged fishponds and the waterlogged and silted moat provide ideal conditions for the survival of organic remains while the interior will hold evidence of the organisation and development of the original Huntington Hall.

The moated site at Huntington Hall comprises a large slightly irregularly shaped moat ten metres wide x two metres deep surrounding a rectangular island 165 metres east-west x 110 metres north-south internally subdivided into four enclosures. Most moats were constructed between 1250-1350 and are general seen as the prestigious residences of the Lords of the manor. The moat marked the high status of the occupier but also served to deter casual raiders and wild animals.

The moat is waterlogged along most of its southern arm and the southern half of its eastern arm with the remainder being dry or waterlogged/silted and choked with vegetation. It drains through outlet channels at the north-western and south-western corners. An outer bank encircles the moat apart from the south-east where landscaping has been undertaken. Access to the island is via a sandstone bridge and a causeway, (both included in the scheduling), both of which lead into the eastern enclosure. Two dry ditches running north-south divide the island into enclosures with the western enclosure containing three waterfilled fishponds complete with dams and outlet channels. The central enclosure is further divided by a dry east-west ditch linking the north-south ditches.

In medieval times the site was owned by the church and was referred to in 1348 as `the grange of the abbot of Chester at Huntington'. All fences and hedges surrounding the monument are excluded from the scheduling. The ground beneath these features, however, is included.

<7> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol.II p.770 (Book). SCH1389.

The hall here is merely a farmhouse.

<8> Elrington CR & Harris BE, 1980, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume III, Vol.III p.132-146 (Book). SCH9163.

Still held by the Collegiate Church in 1086 and thence transferred to the new Benedictine Abbey of St Werburgh's c.1092. The manor was claimed by Sir Philip Burnell and his wife in the 1280s, but the Abbey's rights were successfully defended, though at cost. By 1538, Huntington may have been the only demesne lands of the abbey unleased.

<9> Lysons D & Lysons S, 1806-22, Magna Britannia, Vol.II p.617 (Book). SCH2066.

After the dissolution, this manor, which had belonged to the abbey of St. Werburgh, was granted by King Henry VIII. to the dean and chapter: having been conveyed in the reign of Edward VI. to Sir Richard Cotton. Full descent of ownership to 1772.

<10> Beck J, 1969, Tudor Cheshire, p.98 (Book). SCH3536.

<11> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), 1985, RCHME Survey of Huntington Hall Moated Site (Maps and Plans). SCH2646.

The moat is probably the site of the Abbot of Chester's grange at Huntington referred to in 1348 (see 4). The manor of Huntington and Cheaveley was held by St Werburgh's Abbey at Chester throughout the medieval period. The manor was sold at the Dissolution, subsequently passing through several ownerships. A timber house (Huntington Hall) within the moat is mentioned in both sixteenth and seventeenth century documents; the present house, Old Hall, south of the moat is apparently of late eighteenth/early nineteenth century date. The moat lies at twenty metres above OD about 600 metres east of the River Dee. It is sub-rectilinear in plan, measuring overall 160 metres-165 metres east-west by about 110 metres north-south at its east end; but whereas the other three arms of the moat are straight, the west end of the north arm curves gently inwards. This may be due to the local fall of the ground and the need to maintain water flow through the moat. Much of the moat is now dry except where water is retained as part of modern garden landscaping. There is an outer bank, typically seven to eight metres broad and 0.4 to 0.8 metres high, around almost the complete moated circuit. The interior is divided into three sections or compartments by two north-south ditches, with the central section further subdivided between south and north by an east-west ditch. The eastern north-south ditch is comparable to the main moat in both width and for its southernmost thirty metres also in depth, but north of this is only about half a metre deep; the western ditch is no more than five metres wide and generally less than half a metre deep except at its south end where it is joined by the east-west ditch subdividing the central compartment. It is possible that these features indicate that the original moated area was confined to the eastern compartment, and was later extended west. There is now no surface indication of the building in the easternmost compartment recorded by E. Geary in 1954 (see 1), but there is no certainty that this was part of the principal residence. The three fishponds mentioned by T.P.Waggot (see 1) in the south-west corner of the site survive as earthworks up to one metre deep. The moat may formerly have been associated with a park (SK 46 SW 48). The site was surveyed at 1:1000 scale by RCHME in August 1985. The above description is summarised from a descriptive text held with full survey. [M. Jecock 03/03/1995].

<12> Historic England & Archaeological Research Services, 2022, Cheshire National Mapping Programme and Lidar Mapping Project: The Chester Environs, 1179 (Digital Archive). SCH9186.

<13> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, Last Return 06/12/2008 (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

<14> Bluesky International Ltd, 2015-2017, Aerial Photography for Great Britain, Bluesky International APGB Imagery 2015-2017, SJ4163 & SJ4263, 02/10/2016 (Aerial Photograph). SCH8848.

<15> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ4163 (1874) & SJ4263 (1874-1875) (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts the entire circuit of the moat. A bank is depicted on the outside along the northern and western arms. A smaller linear earthwork is depicted bisecting the site approximately fifty metres from the eastern arm of the moat (eighty-five from the west). Two silted ponds, one sub-rectangular, one L-shaped, are depicted in the south-western corner of the moat platform. The eastern quarter of the moat platform is occupied by an orchard. A road or track bisects the orchard and runs from a bridge which crosses the eastern arm of the moat. The south-eastern arm of the moat appears slightly bulbous and enlarged. Labelled moat.

<16> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ4163 (1899) & SJ4263 (1899) (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

The northern and western arms of the moat are shown as containing reeds. The ponds are shown as a C shaped marshy area. Adjacent to the linear earthwork which bisects the moat platform, the arm or the moat has been widened in a semi-oval shape. Otherwise as previously depicted.

<17> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ4163 (1911) & SJ4263 (1911) (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

The area of the moat platform not occupied by the orchard is now depicted as containing a plantation of mixed deciduous and coniferous trees. A bridge or causeway has been constructed across the eastern end of the southern arm of the moat, adjacent to the farm buildings.

<18> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 11/04/2024 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The moat is large, though this may be due to its association with the Abbot of Chester, however, the location of the moat may have been influenced by pre-existing earthworks of a Roman temporary/practice camp as is suspected at Upton Grange (see CHER 1919). See CHER 14302 for an example in the vicinity.

<19> Cheshire Historic Environment Record, 1989, Jill Collens' Aerial Photographs, 6.0580-3 (Aerial Photograph). SCH9711.