record 1093/1 - Murgatroyd Club

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 56394 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Farmhouse, now staff club, probably dating from the late sixteenth century extended and altered during the nineteenth century. Oak frame with plaster panels; extended and partly rebuilt in brick. Clay tile roof of steep pitch, probably formerly thatched. Two storeys, Two windows. Oak small framing and some close studding; some decorative panel infill of oak; diagonal braces above plinth, below and above first floor and below eaves; slightly jettied first floor bressumer on shaped brackets. South-east gable and part of back rebuilt in brick. One leaded casement and two replaced small-pane wooden casements in south-west side; one three-light leaded casement to each storey and small replaced wooden casement to attic; one leaded casement at rear. Lateral chimney at centre of south-west side. Rear wing of brick with no visible features of special interest. Interior:(in course of repair in 1985) not fully inspected, but stopped ovolo beams are visible in north-west front room; corner fireplaces, probably late nineteenth century in both front rooms. Formerly known as Yew Tree Farmhouse.

<2> Aeon Archaeology, 2017, Yew Tree Farm Site, Sandbach, Cheshire, CW11 3PY: Archaeological Assessment, R4431 (Client Report). SCH8872.

An archaeological desk-based assessment and site visit were undertaken in 2017 for Yew Tree Farm/Murgatroyd Club, Sandbach, in advance of its restoration and development. The following information is taken from this report:-

The site is first depicted on the Lord Crewe estate map of circa 1767 where Yew Tree Farm is shown as an L-shaped range, as it exists today, with its principle elevation to the northwest and fronting on to a north-south trackway that connects with Booth Lane in the south. Two rectangular outbuildings orientated northeast-southwest are depicted lying to the north and northeast of the farmhouse respectively, with a smaller square outbuilding between them at the northern end. The area to the immediate north, east and west is shown as being enclosed fields.

The layout of Yew Tree Farm appears unchanged on the Warmingham tithe map of 1840, although an additional rectangular stables outbuilding, orientated north-east/south-west, is depicted to the immediate east of the farmhouse. The tithe apportionment lists the following information for the field plots: Plot 41, Landowner - Lord Crewe, Tenant - James Shakerley, Plot description - House, garden and orchard.

By 1850, Bagshaw described Tetton as a township and scattered village. James Shakerly’s name is recorded among those of the local farmers, although the occupier of the land is lost shortly afterwards until just before the Second World War, when a Mr Matson occupied Yew Tree Farm.

By the production of the first edition 25” county series Ordnance Survey map of 1876, the Northwich and Sandbach railway cutting had been constructed to the north of the area of the farm and its outbuildings, which are shown in detail; the overall layout had not altered from the production of the 1840 tithe map.

By the production of the second edition 25” county series Ordnance Survey map of 1898, the eastern-most rectangular outbuilding had been demolished, and the square outbuilding between extended, to form a rectangular outbuilding enclosing a central courtyard. This layout is again shown on the third edition map of 1909 and remained until after the Second World War. Yew Tree Farm, then extending to 185 acres and operating as a dairy farm, was purchased in 1946 by Murgatroyd’s salt and Chemical Company.

The OS edition of 1954 shows several other buildings constructed around the farmhouse. The main change to the proposed development area, however, was the construction of a salt works to the north-west of the site. This had begun between the late 1940s and 1954 but the site continued to be developed thereafter. The sitting tenant departed from the farmhouse in 1959.

By 1969, the area had been much altered, with the establishment of the ‘salt and chemical works’. The buildings around Yew Tree Farm shown on the 1954 OS had been removed and a tennis court constructed to the south-west of the farmhouse. This area was marked as a sports ground on the 1984 OS.