Landscape record 5394/1 - Landscape Park and Gardens of Booth Hall, Chelford Road, Knutsford

<1> Cheshire Gardens Trust, 2011 onwards, Research and Recording Report (Report). SCH6655.

Landscape Parkland surrounding a moated medieval manor house and later hall built in a new location in 1745 and remodelled in the 19th century . The park encompassed a mere, plantations, pleasure grounds, ice house, walks, drives and walled kitchen garden all of which remain but the kitchen garden, though substantial development of offices has taken place in the parkland east of the hall.

<2> Greenwood, C. & Greenwood J., 1819, Map of the County Palatine of Chester (Maps and Plans). SCH2115.

Christopher Greenwood’s county map of 1819 does not depict Booths Hall as a defined park (like Tatton and Tabley) but shows the lake, stands of trees and an enclosed garden area by the hall. Bryant’s county map of 1831clearly defines a park, the hall approached by a drive from Macclesfield Road, the moated site of the former hall, a lake with island, formal tree planting west of the hall and scattered parkland trees to the north east. (from source 1)

<3> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 316/2 Over Knutsford (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

The Tithe Map surveyed1848 shows the ‘hall, garden and pleasure grounds’ (85), ‘park pasture’ (86) between the hall and road and ‘wood pasture’ (81) to north and east. The wood pasture is bounded by ‘Springwood and pool plantation’ (80), a meadow, ‘Church wood plains’ (78) and ‘Pond and plantation adjoining water’ (82), the lake to the north of the hall. A drive from Macclesfield Road curves north in front of the hall and continues north west through ‘Carriage Road Field’ (84) to Knutsford. A path circumscribing Carriage Road Field is laid out formally and symmetrically each side, with each side having a central roundel; at the northern end of the field the path passes through a woodland belt. The south west frontage of the hall facing the road is framed by planting. The carriage drive approaching from the Macclesfield Road skirts the planting which screens the walled garden and associated ancillary buildings. (from source 1)

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

The Ordnance Survey of 1875 suggests that considerable remodelling of the pleasure grounds had taken place since 1848, probably in conjunction with the remodelling of the house. The carriage drive bisecting Carriage Road Field has been removed, but the section of drive from the field to Knutsford maintained and linked to the formal path along the western field boundary. The formal path on the opposite side of Carriage Road Field (northeast) has been largely removed creating a continuous space to the lake, titled ‘Booths Mere’. Near the hall the line of this path is retained on an embankment or ha ha with open views to the mere, and continued to describe a semi circle through the extended pleasure ground planting. (from source 1)

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

The 1909 Ordnance Survey indicates no major changes to the layout but the addition of some small buildings - a boathouse beside the extension to Booths Mere, a boathouse beside the southern end of the lake in Spring Wood, a lodge at the south west entrance to Spring Wood and a lodge south of the entrance on Macclesfield Road.

<6> L-P Archaeology, 2020, Archaeological Evaluation Report: Booths Park, Knutsford, R4409 (Client Report). SCH8845.

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken in 2019 in the northeastern carpark of Booths Park in Knutsford, Cheshire, prior to the development of the site which lies immediately to the east of the Norbury Booths Hall moated site. The evaluation included the excavation of eight trenches to identify and characterise any potential below ground remains. Archaeological features of Post Medieval date, thought to be field boundaries, were identified, along with drainage channels and a small brick structure, likely associated with either Booths Hall farm or the late 19th century kitchen gardens of New Booths Hall. The development of some of these features can be traced through the historic maps from 1847 onwards.