Building record 1534/1/2 - Barn attached to Cold Arbour Farmhouse, Tytherington

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1329968 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

A former corn barn, now used as a shippon and garage, built in the sixteenth century, with seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century additions and alterations. It was originally a rectangular 4-bay structure, but later extensions have been added to the front and rear. The cart opening has a massive oak lintel. To its left are three nineteenth century windows with 2 square pitch holes above. The gable end has four lines of ventilation slots and blocked light with a wooden lintel. The majority of the original roof survives.

<2> Earwaker, J P, 1877-1880, East Cheshire Past & Present, Vol.II, p.339 (Book). SCH1080.

'Cold Habour, the present name of the farmhouse in this township, occurs in the wills of Jasper Worth and Phillip Worth, of Tytherington, Esquires, in 1573 and 1581, in both of which "John Barbor of Colde Harbor" is mentioned. It is noteworthy to meet with this name in this part of the country, as it is usually held to be indicative of Roman occupation in the neighbourhood.'

<3> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 399/2 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

The house and corn barn are depicted, but they are seperate strcutures. They are owned by the Reverend Robert Henry Heppinstall and occupied by James Baguley.

<4> Jenny Wetton Conservation, 2016, Cold Arbour Farm, Tytherington: Building History & Heritage Statement, R4501 (Client Report). SCH9024.

A building history and heritage statement was produced in 2016 for Cold Arbour Farm, Tytherington, Bollington, prior to proposed development. The study includes a map regression exercise, together with external and internal examination of the buildings, including photographic recording. It also includes the results of dendrochronological dating, undertaken in 2015, carried out during repair work to timbers in the farmhouse and barn. This concludes that the farmhouse is likely to have been constructed in around 1685, with the barn probably having been built in around 1679. Samples could not be taken from what may well be earlier timbers in framed partitions and the roof and it is possible that these may have been used from an earlier house. Dendrochronology dating has revealed that the oldest part of the building is the eastern end. Removal of ceilings in poor condition has also revealed a beam on the first floor immediately to the west with an apparent date of 1597 and carpenters’ marks, although it is possible this may have been re-used from elsewhere. (See also source 5)

The barn, now a shippon and garage, was formerly a corn barn. It is believed to date from the 16th century with 17th century outshuts and 19th century and 20th century alterations; an additional bay at the east end was demolished in the late 20th century. It is also built of coursed, squared buff sandstone rubble and covered with a Kerridge stone-slate roof with a stone ridge. Originally on a rectangular 4-bay plan, outshuts were added to the rear and partly to the front. The cart opening has a massive oak lintel with a projecting rubble drip course above and retains two timber upper doors. To the left of the opening are three 19th century 6-pane windows below and 2 square pitch holes above, one of which retains a timber door. The gable end shows four lines of ventilation slots, a blocked light with a timber lintel and an infilled opening at ground level. The east elevation of the barn is now timber clad with modern doors beneath.

The southern lean-to of the barn has massive trusses with trenched purlins and is white-washed internally. The barn is full height with hand-cut post and beam trusses and one purlin on either side with an additional three supporting the northern lean-to. The barn has been partitioned with stone walls internally to provide animal housing on the north side. A floor has been inserted at the east end with a timber partition at the upper level and modern post and chicken wire pens underneath.

A building at ‘Cold Harbour’ is shown on Burdett’s county map of 1777, although this is of too small a scale to show any detail, apart from the road layout. It appears again on Bryant’s county map of 1831, which has more detail of the setting. This shows two separate buildings with a wall enclosing a yard. The first map to show the site in any detail is the tithe map of 1849 which shows the house on an almost H-shaped plan with an L-shaped barn to the north-east and a small outbuilding to the south-west. The tithe apportionment lists James Baguley occupying the buildings which were owned by the Reverend Robert Henry Heppinstal, a minor local landowner; gardens are listed to the south with 11 other fields. By this time, the principal local landowners were the Brocklehurst family. By 1875, the house had been extended to join it to the barn, the present outbuilding constructed to the south-east, the small building to the south demolished and an outbuilding co

By 1881, Cold Arbour was occupied by James Jackson, listed in the census return as a farmer of 43 acres employing one man and living there with his wife and child and two servants. The last large scale map available, of 1909, shows no change in the buildings since 1875, but does show a bay on the eastern end of the barn extending beyond the 17th century outshut, which is no longer there. By 1911, the farmhouse was still occupied by the Jackson family, with Joseph Weatherhead Jackson as head of the household. In 1933, Joseph Jackson bought the farm from the Brocklehurst family of Henbury Hall. The bay at the eastern end of the barn does appear on the 1954 map but the 1976 map is too small a scale to show whether it had been demolished. In the late 20th century, the farm was used for breeding wildfowl but the owner ceased farming the wider land around the farm. By 2012 when Jones Homes purchased the farm, the eastern bay of the barn had been demolished, as had the outhouse to the north.

<5> Tree-Ring Services, 2016, Dendrochronological Analysis of Oak Timbers from Cold Arbour Farmhouse and Barn, Bollington, Cheshire England, R3911 (Client Report). SCH8100.