Monument record 300/1 - Moated sites, Settlement Remains and Field Systems of Southley Manor

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ 55 NE 6 (Index). SCH2487.

Former roads and other features adjoining the road from Alpraham to Bunbury Locks are visible on aerial photographs. These include the remains of a moated site identified as Southley Manor which was first recorded c.1305 (see 3). Ridge and furrow, and trackways visible on Ordnance Survey aerial photographs (see 7) [Waggott TP 01/10/1980].

<2> Williams SR, 1979, Aerial Archaeology in Cheshire, p.56 (Article in Monograph). SCH3094.

<3> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, vol.III p.300-301 (Book). SCH3228.

The first documentary reference to the manor (manner' de Soudlegh) dates from c.1305 with further references in 1357 (Southleye) and 1400 (Southley), with further references and spellings in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The first documentary reference to the hall dates from 1494. It has been suggested that the placename may derive from saltery, a salt works.

<4> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol.II p.279-281 (Book). SCH1389.

<5> Williams SR, 1970s-1980s, Rhys Williams' Aerial Photographs, 3.0235 & 3.0239 (Aerial Photograph). SCH4607.

<6> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), 30373 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

The monument includes a moated site and a larger moated platform together with headlands and ridge and furrow cultivation in the fields to the east of the moat. This represents the remains of the manor house of Southley and some of the open fields connected to the community, lying to the south of Southley Common. The Manor is mentioned in 1305 and a Southley Hall is named in 1494.

The moat survives at the western end of the site. It was fed by a small brook from the south which formed fishponds on the south and west sides. The north and east arms of the moat are artificially created ditches, 18m across. The south and east arms of the moat have been partly infilled and disturbed by the excavations which took place when the present railway line was being built along the southern side of the site. The moat platform measures 22m by 53m.

To the east of the moated manor house was a larger moated platform. This measures 78m wide at the eastern end and 103m long and has the bed of the brook as its southern edge and a ditch 5m wide along its other three sides. The northern side is partly obscured by a modern ditch which has been cut to form a field boundary and control a small brook which once flowed along that side of the moat. On the south western quarter of this moated platform there are traces of an enclosure within which a house would have stood. On the rest of the platform there are remains of ridge and furrow cultivation with intervals of 4.5m between the ridges.

To the east of this large platform there are the remains of ridge and furrow cultivation which occupy the whole northern part of this field from the northern boundary to the brook edge. Through this area there is a hollow way which leads from the north east corner of the field towards the bridge across the railway line. Where the hollow way would have crossed the brook there is a large dressed sandstone block which may have formed one of the abutments for a bridge. To the south of the brook there is higher ground, crossed by areas of ridge and furrow cultivation and three possible house platforms with the hollow way running through them. These features are less well-defined than the features on the north side of the brook and may have been eroded by the traffic created when the railway was built.

<7> Ordnance Survey, Various, Ordnance Survey Aerial Photographs, OS 69/409 057-8 (Aerial Photograph). SCH8310.

<8> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, 1m DSM Composite (25/06/2021) (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

The earthworks are well defined and extend north of the field boundary which delimits the northern boundary of the scheduled monument. Further ridge and furrow earthworks lie between the scheduled area and Bunbury Road, and are extensive in the area south of the railway line.

<9> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 11/2, 1839 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

This map depicts a building on the larger of the two moat platforms. The location of the building would correspond with the building enclosure identified in the Schedule Entry (see 6). A small building is located to the north. The plot is described as a homestead and garden. A further L-shaped building is located to the immediate west in a plot named Barn Field.

<10> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ5859, 1874-1875 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

No buildings are depicted on this map and the majority of the field boundaries on the western part of the site have been removed.

<11> Royal Air Force, 1944-1947, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review, CPE\UK\1935 no.1174 & 1175, 17/1/1947 (Aerial Photograph). SCH8041.

The earthworks are well defined on these aerial photographs and lie within a larger landscape of ridge and furrow earthworks.