Monument record 1298/11/2 - Tatton Village Deserted Settlement

Archaeological investigations at Tatton Old Hall between 1978 and 1988 recorded traces of a medieval village. Although no clear dating evidence was recovered, a chronology could be established based on stratigraphy with four main phases of occupation identified between the 12th century and the late medieval to early post medieval period. (2)

Phase 1 consisted of the construction of Building F contemporary with Ditches X and XI running parallel to it along the eastern wall of the building and Ditch IX along the western wall. The absence of artefacts suggests that these features predate 1200. (2)

Building F consisted of a post-hole timber framed rectangular structure 14.4m long and 4.6m wide on a northeast to southwest alignment. In the interior, an extensive area of fire-hardened clay subsoil may indicate a hearth contemporary with the structure. (2)

Phase 2 consisted of the construction of Building D to the west of Building F and Ditch II likely forming the northern boundary of an enclosure south of Building D and separated from it by a possible roadway. (2)

Building D consisted of two units that were apparently in contemporary use. The composite building appears to have been constructed in the south-west corner of the same ditch-defined unit of land. The building consists of two units, D1 and D2, which were apparently in contemporary use. The western half was the larger and better constructed element and was probably therefore primary. D1 was a timber-framed structure, almost square in plan c.5.0 x 4.5m. The side walls were supported on four posts set in substantial deep postholes. The scatter of postholes within the structure may indicate earlier or later build, but are perhaps more likely to represent internal features. No evidence of a hearth was revealed, nor was any specific entrance. D2 was secondary and measured c.4.5 x 4.0m. Its walls were also supported on posts. A drain was dug into the subsoil, implying that the building was used for livestock, although the primary structure may have been residential, or perhaps a granary with the residential unit lying elsewhere. (2)

Phase 3 saw the demolition of Building F and the cutting of a new ditch over it (Ditch VI/VIII) that may have replaced Boundary Ditch X from Phase 1 serving as the south-eastern boundary of the enclosure encompassing Buildings D and M. (2)

Building M was located to the northeast of Building D and comprised a rectangular structure approximately 11m by 6m made up of three parallel alignments of post-holes. There was no evidence of a hearth within it. Although no dating evidence was recovered, the stratigraphic relationship identified by the excavator suggests it was contemporary with Ditch VI/VIII. (2)

Phase 4a begins with the cutting of Ditch VII on a northwest to southeast alignment at the northern end of Ditch VI/VIII leading into the holloway to the northeast of the settlement and the construction of Building A1 and a cobbled area north of the ditch. Phase 4b saw Ditch VI/VIII become increasingly filled with water requiring a deep sump to be cut at the intersection between ditches VII and VIII. The sump appears not to have been sufficient and Phase 4c saw the stopping up of Ditch VIII and the cutting of a second sump in Ditch VII. A fourth attempt was later made in Phase 4d in the late medieval period. (2)

Building A was located at the northern end of the excavations, outside the enclosure that included Buildings D and M. Building A may have been located within an enclosure that consisted of the northeast-southwest aligned Ditch III and the east-west aligned Ditch IV. A possible entrance comprised a cobbled area was identified at the intersection between the two ditches. The building itself consisted of three elements; A1 was probably the first part to be constructed and comprised a rectangular structure 7.8m by 4.9m on an east-west alignment. It’s construction appeared to consist of six pairs of posts connected by trussed rafters with a central ridge and evidence of two drains channelling water from the interior to the exterior. It was suggested A1 was a cattle shed. Building A2 was subsequently added to it at right-angles to the western end of Building A1 and measured 8m by 5.7m. This structure was less substantial than the first, consisting of shallow postholes with no suggestion of a central ridge. Some evidence of burning within this structure suggest a hearth. Structure A3 was later added to the eastern end of Building A1. The least substantial of the three elements, this appeared to consist of two narrow slots 3.5m long and 1.5m apart that may have served as storage. A series of fire-discoloured areas approximately 7.5m east of the building suggest a number of successive hearths while shallow postholes suggest a fragile superstructure surrounding them. (2)

Building K was located to the west of Ditch II separated from the main area of habitation. A handful of sherds of pottery of 13th to 14th century date in the backfill of the post holes implies that its construction and use was broadly contemporary with Building 'A'. This dating is broadly supported by two radiocarbon dates. The structural remains are complex. A snaking double line of shallow post pits mostly contained a fine ash-based fill. This alignment may be associated with two others roughly at right-angles c.4 x 3m. No hearth was revealed. The structure may be associated with animal husbandry, with the tentering of woollen cloth, or with the drying of hemp or flax. (2)

Structures G and H consisted of two scatters of post holes, although neither need necessarily represent a roofed structure, and they may represent fence lines. Very little pottery came from this area, although there was a substantial area of fire-discoloured clay such as elsewhere taken to indicate a hearth. (2)

The access spur to the hollow way was abandoned during the 13th-14th century and was used as a midden. Quantities of pottery were deposited along with several large, glacial stones. Of the stones found in the disused hollow way four bore deep grooves which may have resulted from use as whetstones, one was a smooth ovoid consistent with use as a sharpening rubber, the largest had scratched on one face a chequers board and another a merells board. (2)

Excavations at Tatton. Section through the roadway shown on Hussey's estate map of 1733. A line of curb stones was located along the western edge of a dark stained area of sand containing concentrations of bricks and stone. This was interpreted as a road and dating evidence suggests 17th & 18th century, but the depth of the hollow-way implies a medieval date. The area beside the road was used as a refuse dump in the first half of the 18th century and after emparkment. A flimsily constructed building, possibly a Smithy, was found at the side of the road. It consisted of a clay surface with evidence of a coal fire, tumbled brickwork and stone roof fragments and nails (1).

Description from record 58583:
{2} Re-occupation of the village area began with the construction of Building 'F', which was a post hole-based, timber-framed rectangular structure, 14.4m along the ridge and 4.6m wide at the centre, with all four walls bowing slightly outwards. Alignment was approximately NE-SW. The long walls provided support for the roof, with posts that were probably paired and which were presumably joined by rafters. In the interior, an extensive area of fire-hardened clay subsoil may indicate a hearth contemporary with the structure. The absence of artefacts suggests that these features predate 1200.

Description from record 58584:
{2} Building 'D' was probably constructed before Building 'F' was slighted by new boundary ditches. This structure consisted of two units which were apparently in contemporary use. The composite building appears to have been constructed in the south-west corner of the same ditch-defined unit of land. The building consists of two units, D1 and D2, which were apparently in contemporary use. The western half was the larger and better constructed element and was probably therefore primary. D1 was a timber-framed structure, almost square in plan c.5.0 x 4.5m. The side walls were supported on four posts set in substantial deep postholes. The scatter of postholes within the structure may indicate earlier or later build, but are perhaps more likely to represent internal features. No evidence of a hearth was revealed, nor any specific entrance. D2 was secondary and measured c.4.5 x 4.0m. Its walls were also supported on posts. A drain was dug into the subsoil, implying that the building was used for livestock, although the primary structure may have been residential, or perhaps a granary with the residential unit lying elsewhere.

Description from record 58585:
{1} An approximately geometric arrangement of small and shallow postholes covering an area c.11 x 6m. The structure comprised three parallel alignments of posts with a slight scatter of post holes to the north, which may be unconnected. The structure was large, and may have consisted of at least two rooms. No evidence for a hearth was found. The lack of dating evidence and the structure's orientation implies that it is contemporary with Buildings 'A' and 'D', and might simply represent a row of animal pens rather than a roofed structure.

Description from record 58586:
{2} This composite building dominated the northern end of the excavated area. It was constructed on a slight ridge which probably provided the best drained site. The building was comprised of three different abutting elements, the central structure (A1) being the first to be constructed. This was a rectangular structure c.7.8 x 4.9m, aligned east-west, and built of upright posts set in post holes, the more substantial post holes set at the corners and mid-way along the end walls to support the ridge for the roof. Two drains channelled water from the interior to the exterior of the structure, pottery in their backfill indicating that they were contemporary with the building. This building was the most robust on the site. Its quality, the absence of a hearth, slight evidence of internal trampling, and the presence of two drains suggest that it was built for animal accommodation, almost certainly as a byre for cattle. A2 was built abutting the west end and at right-angles to A1. The building (c.8.0 x 5.7m) was based on shallow, irregular post holes. Fire had caused discolouration of the subsoil, perhaps implying an internal hearth. There did not appear to be any access between A1 and A2. It seems likely that A2 comprised the residential element of the building. A further element was added to the east end of A1. Two near-vertical sided, narrow beam slots were identified c.10-20cm wide x c.10cm deep x 3.5m long, and 1.5m apart. This appears to have been a small ancillary structure, possibly nothing more than a log or turf store, fowl house or kennel.

Description from record 58587:
{2}This structure was built in the corner of a medieval enclosure which appears to have been otherwise unoccupied by buildings. A handful of sherds of pottery of C13th/C14th date in the backfill of the post holes implies that its construction and use was broadly contemporary with Building 'A'. This dating is broadly supported by two c14 dates. The structural remains are complex. A snaking double line of shallow post pits mostly contained a fine ash-based fill. This alignment may be associated with two others roughly at right-angles c.4 x 3m. No hearth was revealed. The structure may be associated with animal husbandry, with the tentering of woollen cloth, or with the drying of hemp or flax.

Description from record 58588:
{1} Two scatters of post holes were identified to the east of Building 'F' and Ditches VIII, X and XI. These were differentiated loosely as Structures G and H, although neither need necessarily represent a roofed structure, and they may represent fence lines. Very little pottery came from this area, although there was a substantial area of fire-discoloured clay such as elsewhere taken to indicate a hearth.

Description from record 58589:
{1} Two scatters of post holes were identified to the east of Building 'F' and Ditches VIII, X and XI. These were differentiated loosely as Structures G and H, although neither need necessarily represent a roofed structure, and they may represent fence lines. Very little pottery came from this area, although there was a substantial area of fire-discoloured clay such as elsewhere taken to indicate a hearth.

Description from record 58592:
{2} The access spur to the hollow way was abandoned during the C13th/C14th and was used as a midden. Quantities of pottery were deposited along with several large, glacial stones. Of the stones found in the disused hollow way four bore deep grooves which may have resulted from use as whetstones, one was a smooth ovoid consistent with use as a sharpening rubber, the largest had scratched on one face a chequers board and another a merells board (the latter two illustrated on p.97).

Description from record 53650:
(1) Immediately north of the Old Hall are the earthworks of the deserted village of Tatton Green.
(2) Tatton was not a nucleated village, but a loosely connected community of cottages, crofts and open fields strung along a now vanished road leading from Rostherne to Knutsford. The greatest concentration of buildings seems to have been immediately outside the wall bounding the once private grounds of the Old Hall. Tatton is mentioned in the domesday survey of 1086 and two associated, but secondary, settlements are mentioned in the C13th at Norshaw and Hazelhurst. Medieval Tatton had a mixed pasture and arable economy and C13th/C14th references to a fulling mill indicate that the processing of wool was important.
A map of 1733 shows the village already in decline. There are a few scattered houses, barns and other buildings along the road which passes the front of the Old Hall. A wide and deep gully which runs approximately along the eastern edge of the road at this point appears to be an ancient watercourse but is the most prominent feature to be seen on the ground. A few medieval features can be recognised on the map. Many of the long, narrow fields plainly mark medieval selions and probably the position of back lane.
The lines of formerly existing banks and hedges can still be traced on the ground and compare well with the boundaries shown on the map of 1733. A narrow ridge and furrow, which can be seen running beneath them, is probably the remnants of post-medieval ploughing. Aerial photographs suggest that this ridge and furrow, in turn, overlies medieval selions which are on a different alignment.
The earthworks of the village itself are less distinct. House platforms and other features are identifiable.
{4} In the late C18th the village of Tatton was deserted as a result of the creation of a deer park. Hedges were removed and field ditches filled in. The area of the village bears traces of ridge and furrow, field boundaries and the Rostherne-Tatton-Knutsford Road, although it is difficult to identify building platforms. Pre-emparkment maps show a scatter of buildings close to the old road, and in particular around "Tatton Greene". These are most likely to represent the tenant farms of Tatton in the early C18th.
{5} Because of the lack of access to other settlement sites, systematic archaeological investigation was confined to the putative village site, adjacent to the Old Hall, which was the largest single settlement in 1733.
The extant earthworks of the village site occupy an area of about 1ha. Centred on SJ757814, immediately adjacent to and north-east of the brick wall which now surrounds the Old Hall. Survival of the earthworks was variable over the whole area occupied by the C18th settlement. South of Tatton Brook the reintroduction of agriculture during WWII and subsequent cultivation has resulted in the total loss of upstanding remains, excepting only the C18th road, which survives as a modern farm track. Aerial observation of this area over several years (during June and July) revealed retarded ripening characteristic of underlying ditches. Most, but not all, of these represent the latest phase of pre-emparkment enclosure, as mapped in 1733. More recent ploughing may now have destroyed these buried remains.
Excavation of the medieval village site revealed at least five buildings and two possible timber-framed structures constructed with earth-fast posts. None of the buildings had internal surfaces which were intact; all had suffered some degree of plough-erosion which had removed any internal features, with the exception of the discoloration of natural clay beneath some putative hearths. Exterior surfaces had fared little better, with post-medieval plough erosion of all surfaces down to natural except those within 20m of the northern perimeter of the Dark Age enclosure and the interior of it, where medieval cobbled surfaces survived intact. Stratigraphic reconstruction of the chronology of the site was therefore limited, as was artefactual, since later ploughing had redistributed much of the soil. There was no material which was certainly C12th in date, the bulk of the medieval pottery ranging from C13th - early C15th. However, a single sherd of Chester ware from the later ditch fill may indicate re-settlement significantly earlier than the C12th. Occupation of the site had certainly begun again by 1200 and may arguably date as early as the C10th/C11th. Discussion of the development of the settlement p.96-101.
Abandonment of the excavated tofts probably occurred within a generation of 1400. This abandonment was one small part of the overall decline that characterised the century following The Black Death. Only Ditch III on the western boundary of the area excavated remained open until after c.1600. At some stage thereafter the area was redefined by hedges planted on banks derived from earth upcast from new ditches. The layout however was based on pre-existing alignments.
A few fragments of C13th/C14th pottery were all that was found suggesting occupation prior to the building of The Old Hall. These could have reached the site during manuring, and would imply that the land was farmed during the lifetime of the tofts on the 'village' site.
{6} The form of the settlement had clearly diverged from the late medieval plan. What had then been ditched fields behind tenements lining a street frontage had by the 1740s become a small green, with structures and perhaps cottages attracted to its edge, the clay floor of one of which was excavated. The new layout probably reflects the importance of The Old Hall, which was built after the abandonment of the excavated medieval village tofts.

Hussey, John, 1974, Redrawing of 1733 Hussey Tatton Estate Map (Maps and Plans). SCH4969.

Higham N J, 1984-9, Professor Nick Higham's Aerial Photographs, J87/2/10 (Aerial Photograph). SCH7659.

<1> 1981, Excavations at Tatton Deserted Medieval Village. p.36, p.36 (Article in Journal). SCH4986.

<1> English Heritage, 2001, Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest (Report). SCH2822.

<2> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 4/7-10 Williams S.R. 1976. The Old Hall and Deserted Village at Tatton Park near Knutsford (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<2> Higham N.J, 1999, The Tatton Park Project, Part 2: The Medieval Estates, Settlements and Halls.JCAS, p.86+p.88-101 (Article in Journal). SCH4937.

<3> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 7/52 Higham N J 1980 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<3> Cheshire County Council, 1977, Measured Survey: Tatton Park: Area in the Vicinity of The Old Hall. (Report). SCH4972.

<4> 1981, Excavations at Tatton Deserted Medieval Village. p.36, p.36-39 (Article in Journal). SCH4986.

<5> Higham N.J, 1999, The Tatton Park Project, Part 2: The Medieval Estates, Settlements and Halls.JCAS, p.79+p.82-101+p.117-127 (Article in Journal). SCH4937.

<6> Higham N.J., Aylett P,. Smith J.H., 2001, The Tatton Park Project, Part 3: The Post-Medieval Estate and Halls; Grandeur to Decline, p.85 (Article in Journal). SCH4938.

<7> Higham N J, 1984, Excavations at Tatton - 7th Season interim report, p.3-5 (Unpublished Report). SCH7421.

<7> Higham N J, 1985, Excavations at Tatton - 8th Season 1985, p.3-5 (Unpublished Report). SCH1198.

<8> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 9/p.88-97/Higham,N.J/1983 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<9> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 10/ p.75-82/Higham,N.J/1984/5 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<10> Scheduling record: English Heritage. 1999. Tatton medieval settlement, prehistoric settlement remains, remains of Tatton Old Hall and mill dam. (Unpublished Document). SCH4988.

<11> Various, Aerial photographs, Higham N.J.; Williams S.R.. 1979 (Aerial Photograph). SCH128.

<12> Miln J, 2001, Tatton Park: Archaeological Survey (Mercia Region), p.79 (Report). SCH4955.