Building record 1534/1/1 - Cold Arbour Farmhouse, Tytherington

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1138960 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

A former farmhouse, now house, built in the sixteenth century, with seventeenth and eighteenth century additions and alterations. It is L shaped in plan with an internal cross passage and is built of sandstone with a stone-slate roof. A former farm building lies to the right (see CHER 1534/1/2) and to the left is an extended (and gabled) parlour wing. Inside the rooms to the left of cross passage have exposed small-framed timber partitions. The main room has massive chamfered beam with carved stops. Other rooms have lighter chamfered beams. A mid eighteenth century turned baluster stair is located in the cross passage with part of stone ladder to a former hayloft.

<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 barns are depicted. 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 farmhouse shows several phases of alterations but appears to date principally from the 17th century, with an extension extending to the adjoining barn dating from the mid-19th century. The house is built of coursed, squared buff sandstone rubble, has several stone chimneys including a central, enclosed chimney on the ridge, one set at the eaves on the back and another on the east side, with a larger brick chimney set on the ridge and another in the extension to the north. The roof is of Kerridge stone-slates with a stone ridge. The building is L-shaped in plan with projecting eastern gables and an internal cross passage.

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.