Building record 1420/1/1 - Mottram Old Hall

<1> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /5/93 (Report). SCH1934.

Mottram Old Hall,Wilmslow Road. Manor House. Late medieval origins with early C16 work,early C17 extensions and repairs of early C18 with 2 periods of C20 restoration. Ashlar sandstone lower storey,timber framed upper portions,brick repairs to sides and rear. Stone-slate roof. Square portion to left has parts of original semi-fortified house. Expanded in early C17 to E- plan but now reduced to 3 sides of a small courtyard. Left 2 bays are of original portion. Tall stone plinth has two 2-light chamfered stone mullions. Heavy major timbering above with tension bracing and weak studding. lst floor has 2 inserted C17 5-light ovolo-moulded wooden windows. Above these are a painted coving,a moulded tie beam and a blocked 4-light mullioned and transomed window in a gable. Added to right is an L-shaped portion,with stone plinth and irregular timber framing with weak tension bracing. At junction of 2 portions is a tall stone chimney,behind this is an open passage with C17 door, panels and studding.Interior: E portion has stone half-cellar with large brick-arched ovens.Tension braces visible in walls above.Early C17 stone fireplaces.Added L-shaped portion has C17 stone fireplace, ceiling beams, trusses of tie beam and 2 diagonal struts.Origin of existing structure was a moated semi-fortified manor house prob of C15 date.Much later building, alterations and demoltion make a very complicated surviving portion

<2> Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 1883 -, Transactions of the Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, /12-17 1849 (Journal/Periodical). SCH3293.

<3> Earwaker, J P, 1877-1880, East Cheshire Past & Present, 2/1880/352 (Y) (Book). SCH1080.

<4> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, 9/22-25 Turner R C 1983 (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

Attached to former solar block are foundations of great hall which can be seen as low earthworks in garden.This may have been house of Thomas Savage, Archbishop of York, died 1503, recorded as having a house in Mottram

<5> de Figueiredo P & Treuherz J, 1988, Cheshire Country Houses, /128 (Book). SCH785.

Old Hall erected by the Calveleys as a semi- fortified manor house.Acquired by William Wright in C18.Lower section of ashlar is part of the original blg with an undercroft.L-shaped portion is remains of C17 timber-framed extension Wright converted Old Hall as agent's house, ensuring its survival

<6> University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 2000, Mottram Old Hall Farm. An Archaeological Building Survey of the Farm Complex Attached to Mottram Old Hall, Macclesfield, Cheshire, p.4 (Client Report). SCH6653.

The Old Hall was originally a semi-fortified moated manor house. The lower stone ashlar section of the hall in the eastern wing is late medieval and contains an undercroft. This is the earliest part of the standing structures on the moated platform and probably represented the solar end of a much larger property that ran to the eastyand is now demolished. The upper two storeys of this stone wing were replaced in timber in the late 15th or 16th century. The L shpaed wing to the west is the remains of an early 17th century timber frmaed extension. All the timber framing in the southern and western elevations ( the rear of the building) was replaced in the 18th century. Beyond the moat there are earthworks indicating watercourses and possible fishponds, which may be late medieval or early post-medieval in origin.

<7> University of Manchester Archaeological Unit, 2002, Mottram Old Hall, Macclesfield, Cheshire: An Archaeological Watching Brief, R2403 (Client Report). SCH4232.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 2001 at Mottram Old Hall Farm, Macclesfield, which forms part of the moated Mottram Old Hall complex. The farm buildings , which were sold separately from the Old Hall in 1973, comprise the current farmhouse (formerly a barn of sixteenth or early seventeenth century date), the partial remains of a nineteenth century barn (currently used as a garage), a twentieth century shippon and a twentieth century piggery.

Topsoil stripping to the south of the farmhouse revealed brick remains of a probable Dutch barn of nineteenth century date. Most of this building has been demolished but part of it still exists as the brick garage building. An inspection of a cable trench excavated between the south wall of the shippon and the current north end of the west arm of the moat illustrated that the moat did not continue on this line. Limited test pitting was also undertaken.