Monument record 15667/2 - Park and Gardens - Betchton Hall

<1> Cheshire Gardens Trust, 2011 onwards, Research and Recording Report, Betchton Hall, 12/04/12 (Report). SCH6655.

Early nineteenth century parkland with woodland. Mid Victorian gardens to south and east of the Hall and a kitchen garden to the north, probably dating to 1860-75 and remaining virtually intact. Still extant garden features include: terraces, a sunken garden, a sundial pedestal, gate piers and potting shed.

Bryant depicts parkland surrounding Betchton House/Hall on his map of 1831, this coincides with ownership of the Hall by the Galley Jackson brothers (1821-39) and its remodelling. The park extends to the north of the brook and extends to some 7 and a half acres. A circle depicted around the house may indicate a level terrace or drive.

The 1841 Tithe Map shows Betchton House, two ancilliary buildings and grounds as Plots 293 - 'house, garden and yard'; Plot 292 -'Walnut Tree Meadow' and Plot 291, the area to the north of the brook, 'Rookery'. A later orchard is established in Plot 290, to the west. A boundary line encircling the house to the north and east may represent a ha-ha, possibly defining the limit of the upper terrace.

The OS 1875 map shows the park defined by tree avenues and further areas of tree plantations. Three is a sunken lawn to the south of the Hall. the east and north-east gardens situated on the level upper terrace now include the drive which terminates in a turning circle adjacent to the Hall's eastern elevation. To the north of the house, straight paths divide the kitchen garden into three areas, one of which is a sunken rectangle. Fruit trees and an orchard have been established to the north-west of the kitchen garden.

Later twentieth century maps depict further tree planting to the south of the brook and along Love Lane, the addition of a tennis court to the north-west of the Hall and the development of more buildings in the western part of the park, including the area of the former orchard.

At time of survey (2012), the area retains a parkland feel with open meadow/pasture and the 'Rookery' woodland beyond the stream. Tree belts along Love Lane have been maintained, including large-scale replanting in 1932 when Love Lane was widened. Gardens to the south of the Hall include the gated entrance; the gateposts came from Belmont Hall, Cheshire, in 1935, although the gates themselves were given up during World War II. The un-metalled drive leads past trees and rhododenrons to the turning circle adjacent to the Hall's eastern elevation. The layout of the south garden remains with a sunken garden surrounded by shrubberies, a tree belt and a wall. Until World War II the sunken garden contaned roses and flower beds, today, it is simplified to lawn. The pedestal of a sun dial depicted on the OS map of 1909 remains in place, the metal dial now kept in the Hall.

To the east of the Hall lies a circular lawn and drive, two level terraces of different dates are set into the sloping grounds. The upper terrace is retained by a wall of dressed stone blocks, circa 40cms high. This wall may be the remains of a ha-ha dating to 1821-1839 when the Galley brothers made improvements to the Hall and its grounds. Two steps lead t a lower terrace of lawn, this is the garden extension created between 1875 and 1909, which curves around the upper terrace. The lower terrace is defined by a 60cm earth bank now surmounted by a beech hedge; the only remaining gate from Belmont Hall, a small garden gate, is set within this hedge. The tennis court, built in the 1930s, which originally lay in the north-east gardens, within the north-east curve of the lower terrace, has been replaced with lawn and beech hedges.

In the north garden or kitchen garden, yew hedges planted in the 1930s divide this garden from the east and north-east gardens. The garden still retains the layout shown on the OS 1875 map and remains a productive kitchen garden. It includes a sunken rectangle now put to turf, a glasshouse which incorporates elements of the original glasshouse, areas of fruit trees and vegetable beds and, also, the original potting shed. Hedges and fences separate the kitchen garden from the large meadow to the north.

<2> Aeon Archaeology, 2022, Betchton Hall, Love Lane, Betchton, Cheshire, CW11 2TS: Archaeological Watching Brief, R4629 (Client Report). SCH9284.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 2022 in an area of the kitchen garden immediately to the north of the Hall. The area coincided with a sunken rectangular area at the eastern exent of the kitchen garden depicted on historic mapping. However, no features were observed during the watching brief indicating that they had been removed previously. The revealed stratigraphy showed that a 0.6m deep topsoil had been imported and spread across the site, presumably to level the garden surface. This sealed an in-situ topsoil and subsoil horizon, the latter of which produced two sherds of post-medieval blackware ceramic.