Monument record 1995/1/1 - Stanney Old Hall

<1> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Ormerod 1882 G2 p.393-4 (Book). SCH1389.

Stanney Old Hall. According to Ormerod, the ancient seat of the Bunburies. It was built of timber & surrounded by enormous barns, apparently of the same age, the whole being encompassed by a moat. From the large doorway forming the principal entrance on the west side, a screens passage led across the lower end. To the left were the kitchen & buttery & to the right, the hall. This was extremely spacious & lofty & had a wooden roof similar to that of the church at Stoke (said to be Tudor). Over the high table were a series of verses, apparently of moral tendency, inscribed on the oak wainscot near the roof.

<2> Sulley, P, 1889, The Hundred of Wirral, p.130 (Book). SCH3174.

By 1889 the hall had disappeared, except for a portion of a wall built into the outhouses of the present farmhouse.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ47SW2 1976 (Index). SCH2487.

Present building is modern (see monument 5634). Two old beams in the dairy may represent part of the old hall. An irregular scarp 1.2m high on north and west of house may represent the moat, though it looks like quarrying.

<4> Cheshire County Council, 1989, Archaeological Survey and Evaluation at Old Hall Farm, Little Stanney, R2002 (Client Report). SCH4203.

By the beginning of the 18th century the Bunbury family had left Old Hall in favour of Rake Hall also in Little Stanney. Thereafter Old Hall was occupied by a farmer, then converted into apartments. The agent of Sir H E Bunbury, apparently without his consent, demolished the hall in 1821 and erected the present buildings of Old Hall Farm (Omerod 1882).

In 1989 the site of the moat of Old Hall was subject to topographic survey and small scale evaluation prior to levelling through a landscaping scheme.

<5> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 1996, An Archaeological Evaluation at Old Hall Farm, Little Stanney, Ellesmere Port, R2162 (Client Report). SCH4053.

An archaeological evaluation was undertaken at Old Hall Farm, Little Stanney, in November and December 1996, prior to a programme of conversion and extension. The re-development site was located within a the moated enclosure. Three evaluation trenches were excavated. Medieval and post medieval features and deposits were observed but no positive trace of the Old Hall was encountered. Parts of timber structures, dating probably to the late medieval and post medieval periods were recorded, but these were considered to be associated with ancilliary buildings. The remains of the earlier hall potentially lie beneath the present building (see monument 5634). The line of the south arm of the moat (see 1995/1/2) was identified but the results indicate that it was cleared out during the eighteenth century and this appears to have removed trace of the earlier moat circuit.