Building record 15549 - Woodford Hall

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 57417 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Farmhouse. Late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century. Red Flemish bond brick with ashlar dressings and slate roof. Three storeys. Entrance front: three bays symmetrically disposed. Stone plinth. Central doorway with flat porch supported by two Tuscan columns. Tripartite windows to either side having stone sills and flat arched heads with keystones. These have sash lights to centre of two by three panes with lateral lights of one by three panes. Similar windows to left and right of first floor with central window of three by three panes. Similar windows to second floor though of reduced height, the lateral windows having central lights of two by two panes and the central window being of three by two panes. Left hand return: two-light leaded casement window to left of gable. Rear: Wing to right.

<2> Rigby, T, 1862, Cheshire Farming: Its Past and Future, p.7-8 (Book). SCH9193.

“There are no traces of the old Hall of Woodford remaining, the present substantial and commodious house having been built about 100 years. Six years ago, the whole of the outbuildings, part of which must have stood for 200 years, shared the same fate, and the capacious farm buildings now standing on their site…are as well built and convenient as any in the county.”

<3> Bostock, T, 2019, Tony Bostock Local History Articles, Woodford Hall (Web Site). SCH8736.

Woodford Hall takes its name from the family who resided on the site in the mid thirteenth century; the Woodford location from which that family took its name was situated further south. Woodford was a part of the manor of Darnhall owned by the Earls of Chester. Lands at Woodford feature in two of Earl Ranulph III’s (1181-1232) charters. The first dated c.1220 records the grant of lands called Woodford to Robert de Woodford, which his father had held. The second, dating from a decade later, granted lands to Robert in compensation for the loss of land to the Earl’s new deer park and hunting lodge. With the death of the last Earl of Chester, ownership passed to the Crown until granted in the 1260s to the new abbey at Darnhall (later Vale Royal). About this time the Woodford family died out or moved away. With the dissolution of Vale Royal Abbey in the mid sixteenth century, ownership passed to Thomas Holcroft. Full history of the ownership to 1911.

<4> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 314/2, c.1846 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

This map depicts the farmhouse/hall with an additional smaller building adjoining on the south-eastern side. To the west are three larger rectangular farm buildings arranged in a loose horseshoe. Two smaller buildings are also located here. A pond is located to the immediate south-west of the farmhouse/hall. The plot is described as: house, building and garden.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ6264, 1874-1875 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

This map depicts the farmhouse/hall with an additional long thin north-east to south-west aligned building adjoining on the south-eastern side. Farm buildings are located to the west and comprise an L shaped range on the south-eastern side featuring a covered arch or link. It is difficult to ascertain if this is the same building depicted on the tithe map (see 4) which has been extended or a replacement building at the same location. The north-western building appears to be as depicted on the tithe map, though the intervening building between the two has been demolished. The pond is a rectangular in shape and c.75m x 20m.

<6> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 27/05/2022 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The regularity of the pond and the medieval origin (and suggested status, see (3)) of the farmstead suggests that this is a medieval fish pond.