Monument record 7833 - Site of Chorlton Heath Farm

<1> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 106/2 c.1844 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

The tithe map for Chorlton (Wybunbury) depicts two buildings at this location. The award records the plot as House, Building and Fold.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7250, 1876 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts a the farmhouse outbuildings (including a probable pigsty) and a long farm building to the south. To the north is an orchard bounded on its eastern side by the access road to the farm. The farm is labelled Chorltonheath.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7250, 1898 (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

The farmhouse and farm buildings are no longer extant. Only the orchard remains.

<4> Bluesky International Ltd, 2010, 2010 Bluesky Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH5444.

Earthworks associated with the farm, such as the access, are clearly visible.

<5> HS2 Ltd, 2023, HS2 Phase 2a Archaeological Report: Utilities TX35 Trial Trenching, Unstratified Survey and Archaeological Recording, R4811 (Client Report). SCH9694.

In 2021-22, archaeological works comprising test-pitting, trial trenching and archaeological recording were undertaken at the site of Chorltonheath Farm, to the south of Heath Farm, as part of mitigation works associated with the HS2 Phase 2a railway project. Trial pits were initially excavated at either end and the centre of each proposed trial trench (a total 48 trial pits); no finds were recovered during sieving of the overburden. A total of 16 trial trenches were then excavated, several of these contained features likely associated with field drainage. Additionally, field survey was undertaken for an area of approximately 0.42ha spread across parts of two fields within the area of the former farmstead. A possible late medieval field boundary was observed in the northern field as well as areas of bioturbation likely associated with an orchard depicted on the 19th century Ordnance Survey maps. In the southern field, little evidence for the former farmstead was identified other than two wells, one or two robbed-out wall lines, a few undiagnostic pits and postholes as well as patches of former farmyard surface. Well 2121 contained probably the earliest group of pottery from the site; the group appears to pre-date c.1750 and could conceivably date to c. 1700. Linear features, including ditches, gullies and land drains associated with field drainage, were also recorded within both the northern and southern fields. The earliest feature was potentially a former field boundary, possibly a hedge, which produced a single fragment of possible 15th-16th century pottery. The farmstead itself appears to have been in operation between the early 18th and late 19th centuries. The pottery suggests a possible foundation date of between 1700 and 1750, and historic maps show that the farmstead had been demolished by 1878.