Building record 14342 - Blaze Farm

<1> Peak District National Park Archaeology Service, 2003, Blaze Farm Archaeological Field Survey for the Peak District Environmental Quality Mark Scheme, p.2 (Client Report). SCH8567.

A farmhouse of eighteenth or early nineteenth century date. The two-storey farmhouse is built from coursed sandstone blocks with a stone slate roof and two sandstone ridge chimney-stacks which are positioned on either gable end. All of the windows and doors have plain dressed sandstone details. Against the south-eastern wall of the farmhouse rests a small grindstone.

To the south and south-east of the farmhouse are the sites of four small square or 'L'shaped buildings documented as existing in the late nineteenth century.

‘…The outbuilding range to the east of the farmhouse was constructed in at least two phases as there is a butt join between the south-western third and the north-eastern two-thirds of the building. The north-eastern two-thirds is slightly higher than the other part. In addition to the north-west of the south-western third of the building are the ruined remains of a former addition to the building. This ruined section is roofless and has had its south-western wall removed. Against the north-western walls of the whole of the outbuilding are modern farm buildings. In the south-eastern wall of the south-western third of the outbuilding are two ground-floor doors, two first-floor picking holes and a first-floor door accessed by stone stairs built against the side of the wall. Under these stairs is a small store. The south-western third has a small stone ridge·chimney stack at its south-western gable end. In the south-eastern wall of the north-eastern two-thirds of the outbuilding are three ground-floor doors, three part blocked ground-floor doors which are now used as windows, two first-floor doors (without access steps) and two first-floor picking holes. This part of the outbuilding has recently been converted into a tearoom…’

‘…The farmhouse was built sometime before 1849, the date of the earliest available detailed map of the area [see 2]. On the 1842 Ordnance Survey map of the area a farmstead is shown which is annotated 'Blaze'. On the 1849 map four small buildings are shown to the south and south-east of the farmhouse. Also a small square addition is shown attached to the farmhouse. Sometime between 1849 and 1880 the western-most of the small buildings to the south of the farmhouse had been removed, as had the small square building attached to the farmhouse [see 3]. Sometime between 1880 and 1899 the outbuilding to the east of the farmhouse was built, at this point the small addition to the northwest of the south-westerly third of the building was still intact [see 4]. Sometime between these two dates the rest of the outbuildings to the south of the farmhouse were removed…’

<2> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 428/2, 1849 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ9767, 1873-1889 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ9767, 1897-1899 (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

<5> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, Vol.I p.160 (Book). SCH3228.

Earliest reference to Blaze is from Bryant's map of 1831 (see 6).

<6> Bryant, A., 1831, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2114.

This map depicts an L shaped building.

<7> Burdett, P. P., 1777, A Survey of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH113.

This map depicts 'The Blaze', which is the name recorded for the farmstead on the tithe map (see 2).