Monument record 753/1/1 - Kinderton Hall moated site & fishponds

Kinderton is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1). Kinderton was the seat of the Venables family and came by the 14th century at least (and perhaps already by the end of the 12th century) to be the centre of an extensive barony of the county palatine of Chester reckoned to extend to 10 Knights' fees and holdings in many townships. The earthworks have been classified hitherto as a moat (SJ 76 NW 6), in accordance with Ormerod's description that such a feature 'formerly enclosed a parallelogram of several acres, in the south-west angle of which is a large circular mound'. His opinion that this mound was a motte for a castle keep continues to cause it to be examined in this light. No contemporary documentation or direct field evidence has been found to support the county historian's assertion that there was an 'antient castellated edifice' predating the hall on the site. The baronial castle that others have also expected here has left no traces in the field. Old Kinderton Hall was pulled down at the beginning of the 18th century (2, 3 & 4). It is reported to have been 'a large quadrangular fabric of timber and plaister, and the upper storey … decorated with imaginary portraits of the long series of the barons of Kinderton, painted in a rude style around the exterior of the building' (2 & 3). A building with a 2-storey range of elaborate timber framing between stone or brick cross-wings photographed as 'The Old Hall, Kinderton' and included in the antiquarian scrapbook of B. LI. Vawdrey of Tushingham (3 & 5). However nineteenth century maps only show buildings on the site of the present eighteenth century farmhouse (3). The earthworks at Kinderton represent garden remains and associated enclosures arranged in an ordered way around the site of the former hall. This occupied a central position on a raised platform surrounded by a shallow moat (3). The monument is the moated site of the original Kinderton Hall. It includes a large area containing a complex system of earthworks that includes two annexes, five fishponds, a garden and prospect mound. The raised grassy island measures c.47m x 45m. It has an undulating surface with a low raised platform in its western half. A dry shallow moat c.lOm wide x 0.5m deep surrounds the island. To the west and north is a complex area of banks, ditches and platforms through which runs a causeway from the west that gives access to the island's northwest corner. A shallow waterlogged outer moat 4-7m wide x 0.5m deep runs around the eastern and northern sides. North of this outer moat is a grassy annexe measuring up to 120m x 50m with a shallow dry ditch c.lOm wide on its eastern side. A second grassy annexe measuring some 105m x 75m lies east of the moated site and contains low earthworks towards its southern end and at its northwest corner. Further earthworks lie east of this annexe. A waterlogged fishpond measuring up to 65m x 45m lies southwest of the present Kinderton Hall. A linear set of three dry fishponds lie on the monument's western side - the southerly one measures c.4 5m x 20m x 0.9m deep, the central one measures c.45m x 25m x 0.9m deep, and the northerly one measures c.55m x 18m x 0.9m deep. A dry fishpond some 69m x 20m x 1.5m deep lies at the northern end of the annexe north of the moated site and is connected to the northerly end of the linear set of fishponds by a dry channel c.70m long x 9m wide x 0.5m deep (8).

L - P Archaeology, 2009, Archaeological Deskbased Assessment Of land at Kinderton Hall Farm, Middlewich, Cheshire (Client Report). SCH5204.

<1> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, 2/236-237 (Y) (Book). SCH3228.

<1> Dodgson J McN, 1970-2, 1981, The Place-Names of Cheshire, vol .II p.236-237 (Book). SCH3228.

<2> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, 3/187-201 (Book). SCH1389.

<3> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), 1986, Kinderton Hall - Garden Remains (Graphic Material). SCH4889.

<4> Mackenzie J D, 1896, The Castles of England: Their Story and Structure. Volume II, /175-6 (Book). SCH3090.

<5> Vaudrey B H, The antiquarian scrapbook of B. LI. Vawdrey of Tushingham (Book). SCH2632.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ76NW14 1986 (Index). SCH2487.

<7> English Heritage, Various, Old/Original Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Description), 13492 (Scheduling Record). SCH4606.

<8> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), 13492 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.