Monument record 130/2/3 - Potential remains of pre-Elizabethan buildings, the orchard, Little Moreton Hall

<1> Allen Archaeology Limited, 2009, Archaeological Test Pit Evaluation Report: The Orchard at Little Moreton Hall, Congleton, Cheshire, R2926 (Client Report). SCH5209.

A series of postholes and gullies/beam slots were recorded in 2009 during the excavation of test pits in the orchard area of the moated enclosure at Little Moreton Hall. The cut features were found in pits 4,6, 8 and 10 and were sealed by a layer of grey/brown silt/silty-clay 0.26-0.4m deep. Sealing this horizon was a thin spread of brown clay which could be the result of cleaning of the moat, an event that could be linked to the construction of the existing hall. The clay layer was sealed by a silty clay layer containing finds dating to the 17th to 19th centuries. Significantly, the early cut features are thought to be the remains of early timber structures pre-dating the existing Elizabethan hall.