Building record 14987/2 - Barns at Birtles Farm, Hocker Lane, Over Alderley

<1> Jay Ashall Partnership Chartered Architects, 2019, Heritage Impact Assessment: The Restoration and Conversion of Existing Barns at Birtles Farm, Hocker Lane, Over Alderley, R4336 (Client Report). SCH8743.

A heritage assessment and photographic record was produced in July 2019 for the 'Old House' (farmhouse) and barns at Birtles Farm, Hocker Lane, Over Alderley, as part of a proposal for the restoration and conversion of the barns to living accommodation. The 'Old House' at Birtles Farm (see 14987/1) is a Grade II Listed building, built in the seventeenth century as a farmhouse and altered in the nineteenth century. Following the construction of a new farmhouse in 1909, the Old House has been, and is still used as, an agricultural store. The brick built barns, to the east of the Old House, date from the later nineteenth/twentieth century.

The farmhouse and associated barns were originally part of the Stanley estate; the Stanley family held the titles Lord Stanley of Alderley and subsequently Baron Stanley of Alderley. The seat of the Stanley family was Alderley Old Hall but, in 1779, this was destroyed by fire, causing the family to build the newer house at Alderley Park. The Old Hall was also rebuilt with many 19th and 20th century additions. In 1938, the whole estate was sold, comprising 77 farms and 168 houses, making it the largest estate sale in Cheshire. It is presumed that Birtles Farm was sold off at this time along with surrounding farms.

The development proposals for the barns include the demolition of an existing wooden shed and lean-to structures, which are later additions, also the construction of a glass walled link to fill the void between the two barns where livestock were once housed.

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

The Tithe map for Over Alderley, dating to circa 1842, does not depict any buildings on the site of the barns at Birtles Farm.

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

The OS First Edition map shows a barn, with an approximate east-west orientation and an annex at the western end.

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

The OS second edition map again depicts the barn as before, but with an additional small annex abutting the eastern end.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

The OS third edition map shows that the eastern annex now extends across the entire width of the barn. Additionally, a second building/barn with the same orientation, is depicted just to the south; it is divided into two sections, with an smaller annex abutting the eastern end.