Monument record 14020 - Excavated Victorian Farmhouse and Stable/Workshop, North of Brook Street, Neston

<1> AOC Archaeology Group, 2009, Land Between Brook Street and Raby Road, Neston, Cheshire: A Post-Excavation Assessment Report, R4056 (Client Report). SCH8306.

The truncated remains of a large, Victorian farmhouse, were excavated in 2009 on land to the north of Brook Street prior to its re-development. This farmhouse truncates and appears to have replaced a more modest seventeenth/eighteenth century farmhouse (see MCH4386), the remains of which were also excavated as part of this archaeological evaluation. The Victorian farmhouse and associated structures are depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1881 map.

The Victorian brick and stone farmhouse was set on a north-west/south-east alignment and comprised three rooms, with internal division. The two most northerly rooms contained brick and tile floors. A threshold leading from the central room led onto a cobbled yard, on the east of the house, which extended eastwards to the remains of a single roomed stable block/workshop with adjoining garden walls. The most southerly room of the farmhouse did not contain evidence of any flooring and in its north-west corner there was a small brick soak away and associated drain, indicating that the room may have been external, forming a walled enclosure adjoining the house. Aligned against the west, north-west and north-east extents of the farmhouse, drainage and service ditches were recorded, some still containing ceramic Victorian drainpipes. These services centre on the most northerly room indcating that, potentially, this was the kitchen. A second cobbled yard to the south of the site appears to have served as an entrance to the farmhouse from Brook Street. The single roomed stable/workshop to the east of the farmhouse measured approximately 5.62m by 3.98m, it comprised exterior brick walls enclosing a high density cobbled red brick floor. The bricks were set flat against each other, they were stamped 'W.HANDCOCK & Co (H'DEN) L.BUCKLEY', with a date of circa 1883 -1931. East of garden wall was a north-south gully and associated postholes indicating the presence of an enclosure possibly associated with the Victorian farmhouse to the west.

A large, sub-circular pit (circa 9.0m by 8.20m), dating to this period, was recorded in the northern part of the plot. The fill of the pit contained large sandstone fragments, indicating that it was a quarry pit. The plot appears to have been arranged with the residential land to the south and industrial/agricultural land to the north.