Building record 1394/1/1 - Chorley Old Hall

<1> Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 1883 -, Transactions of the Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 4/102 Norbury W 1886 (Journal/Periodical). SCH3293.

Chorley Old Hall, Ryleys Lane. A sub-manor. It was originally part of the manor of Bolyn, Wilmslow. In the thirteenth century, Edward Fitton, Lord of Bolyn, gave his sister part of his manor lying in Chorley.

<2> Earwaker, J P, 1877-1880, East Cheshire Past & Present, 1/1877/165 (Y) (Book). SCH1080.

The oldest portion of the Hall is the stone built south range. This was probably built by William de Honford who lived here in 1420. At right angles to this is the timber-framed west range. This was probably erected early/mid sixteenth century, possibly by Thomas Davenport, who acquired the estates circa 1527 by marriage.

<3> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /4/66 (Report). SCH1934.

Sub-Manor house built circa 1330 for de Chorley family, with a timber-framed portion of circa 1560 built for the Davenport family, and refenestration and internal alterations added circa 1640 for Thomas Stanley. Late eighteenth century repairs and major renovations undertaken in 1915 and 1975. L-shaped plan.

South range: coursed buff sandstone rubble with some later ashlar and brick in right gable. Kerridge stone-slate roof and 1 stone chimney. 2-storey, 3-bay (each gabled) north front. Left end bay has a 4-light, rebated ovolo-moulded mullioned and transomed window below, larger 5-light above with a flat moulded hood. Heavy timberwork of close studding with middle rail in gable. Central bay has an original moulded, rebated, 2-centred arched doorcase to screens passage under a label mould. This contains a heavy studded 6-board oak door with long iron strap hinges. Above is a similar 5-light window with light timberwork in gable. Right end bay has a 6-light mullioned and transomed window below with a central king mullion and the more usual 5-light above. Herringboning in gable. Rainheads dated 1915. To rear is a similar door to the screens passage, a 3-light hollow chamfered stone mullioned window to the buttery, and an original double rebated 2-light mullion under a label mould to the hall. Early, possibly C16 brickwork in gable.

West range: small timber framing with decorated panels, on stone plinth. Kerridge stone-slate roof, stone ridge and a massive lateral stone chimney. 2-storey, 2-bay east front with a central gable. To left are wooden 5-light ovolo-moulded mullioned and transomed widows. To right is a door with a similar 3-light window above. In timber framing on ground storey, there is a chevron pattern. Projecting moulded beam at 1st floor. Roundels and cross motif in panels of 1st storey and in gable the major timbers are on the diagonal. Interior: South range: Screens passage has an arcade of 4, 2-centred arched doorways to service rooms and the kitchen passage. Spere posts survive but now filled in with C17 timber framing, and wattle and daub. Buttery has remains of spiral stone staircase to solar and existing wooden stair has some mid C17 turned balusters. Solar has squint window into hall, and upper crucks sprung from carved stone corbels. Floor inserted in hall c1640 and massive stone fireplace is now hidden by later brick example. East range: has wainscotting and 6-panelled doors of c1640 and a 1913 repaired Jacobean style overmantle. 2 Elizabethan stone fireplaces upstairs. This sub-manor house still stands within its moat and the hall unlike other Cheshire examples has not been swamped by later additions.

<4> Ancient Monuments Society, Various, Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, /61-86 1960 Cordingly R A & Wood-Jones R B (Journal/Periodical). SCH3287.

<5> Royal Archaeological Institute, 1845-Present, Archaeological Journal, 127/162-3 Smith J T 1970 (Journal/Periodical). SCH338.

<6> Lysons D & Lysons S, 1806-22, Magna Britannia, Lysons /819-820 (Book). SCH2066.

<7> White, F, 1860, Whites History, Directory & Gazetteer of Cheshire, /882 White F & Co 1860 (Book). SCH1452.

<8> de Figueiredo P & Treuherz J, 1988, Cheshire Country Houses, /57-60 (Book). SCH785.

<9> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), 13497 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

The moated platform on which Chorley Old Hall is located is a scheduled monument (see 1394/1/2).

<10> Matrix Archaeology, 2013, Chorley Old Hall, Alderley Edge, Cheshire: Archaeological Evaluation, R3420 (Client Report). SCH7024.

In 2012, an archaeological evaluation was undertaken at Chorley Old Hall and its moated enclosure, connected with proposals for various extensions and new buildings. A total of eleven trenches were excavated across the site, both within and outside the Scheduled area.

Trenches 5 and 6 were located immediately to the west of the south range of the hall. All the features/deposits encountered in Trench 5 were of relatively recent origin. However, in Trench 6, a substantial, north-south wall foundation was recorded, comprising sandstone blocks set into, and bonded together with, a clay deposit. The wall was in line with the existing west wall of the north-west wing. A large lump of bloomery slag was discovered wedged between the stones of the foundation. A seventeenth century potsherd found overlying the wall suggests a demolition date of about 1650-1700. This wall foundation could represent a western extension to the south range of the hall, potentially the remains of a demolished solar wing.

<11> Matrix Archaeology, 2017, Chorley Old Hall, Alderley Edge, Cheshire: Archaeological Mitigation Works (Volume 1 - Internal Works), R4062 (Client Report). SCH8315.

Further archaeological evaluation was undertaken between 2015 and 2017 in advance of and during development work at Chorley Old Hall. The new excavation work comprised the whole of the former great hall, and the cross passage, with limited trenching within the former service wing. The area of the original medieval great hall now serves as the kitchen and the dining room. The kitchen area was not excavated down to natural but stopped at a brick floor laid in herringbone pattern on a bed of sand, dating to the early eighteenth century. The area of the dining room, however, was fully excavated down to natural. Evidence for several phases of activity were recorded and are summarised as follows.

The earliest phase relates to activity pre-dating the fourteenth century and comprises two, possibly four, post holes, located in the area of the dining room; these potentially represent the remains of a structure pre-dating the hall (see MCH24426/14041). This structure is thought to relate to iron production, evidence for which was found during the evaluation work.

The next phase is the construction of the hall in the fourteenth century. Widespread truncation within the kitchen and dining room areas had removed any evidence for the medieval internal surfaces, however two areas of heat affected clay in the dining room area are thought to represent the remains of central hearths within the original medieval great hall; fired clay samples from these were subject to a pilot study for archaeomagnetic dating. Also recorded was a variation in medieval floor levels between the service wing (currently used as a lounge) and the cross passage. Step features were recorded leading from the cross passage into the medieval service rooms (pantry and buttery) which had floor levels slightly above those of the cross passage and main hall. A similar-shaped step leading to the kitchen passage (also at a higher level) had been completely destroyed by later works. The reasoning for the step up into the services may have represented a practical solution to a topographic problem i.e. a steady east to west slope to the site. Sandstone blocks encountered during excavation of service trenches in the lounge almost certainly related to the former internal divisions within the medieval service wing. The blocks probably underpinned east-west timber partitions which separated the buttery, central kitchen passage, and pantry. These original fourteenth century partitions had apparently survived into the latter half of the twentieth century. Also there were some indications of a cobbled floor in the kitchen passage.

During the later sixteenth/seventeenth century several major structural alterations were made to the building. A first floor level was inserted into the open hall, along with the massive chimneystack inserted in a lateral position, with an integral staircase to access the new first floor level. The existence of two integral fireplaces within the stack strongly suggests that the original great hall was subdivided into two room spaces, equivalent to the existing kitchen and dining room. The latter assumed the equivalent status of a post-medieval housebody; whilst the former probably became a service room. The spere truss infill partition, and the large windows in the north elevation, were also introduced at this time. Both of these features displayed ovolo mouldings which may be dated c.1580 to 1630. The west elevation of the hall may also have been rebuilt or refaced with large, square ashlar sandstone blocks during this period, in contrast to the more irregular-bedded slabs used within the medieval masonry house. Some of these works were likely to have been coincidental with the construction of the mid sixteenth century timber-framed north-west wing, potentially built to provide additional accommodation. This was two storeys in height, and was connected to the north-west corner of the hall by a stair turret.

In the early eighteenth century, the ground levels were reduced across the area of the dining room, removing all evidence of earlier surfaces. This intervention facilitated the laying of new brick floors in the kitchen and flagstone floors in the dining room. The heavy wear to the brick floors suggested that they were in use for a considerable period, possibly for many decades. The sharp distinction between the brick surface within the kitchen, and the flagged area within dining room, hints at a pre-existing north-south partition (or spere) extending northwards from the north-west corner of the inserted chimneystack, most likely in timber framing, and later replaced in brick.

In the early nineteenth century, an east-west wall was inserted within the kitchen, to form a small room containing the west-facing fireplace. The raised floor of this service room (scullery or laundry?) was surfaced with Pennine flagstone. Construction of this wall may have coincided with the rebuild of the western part of the south external wall in brickwork, along with the south part of the west gable. A rectangular ?brickwork plinth at the north-east corner of kitchen, may have supported a slopstone sink, or even a cheese press, given that part of a broken cheese press base was recovered. Additionally, the fireplaces were modified in this phase, with a bread oven inserted into the lateral fireplace and new ash pits inserted into the two fireplaces in the chimney stack. During the late nineteenth century, the dividing wall within the kitchen area was removed and the flagstone floor extended northwards. A cast iron range was added to the lateral fireplace. Further fireplace and flooring modifications occurred in the twentieth century, including the overlaying of the ash pits within both fireplaces of the lateral chimneystack with concrete, with quarry tiles over. Also the cooking range was removed requiring the insertion of brick infill above the fireplace.