Building record 1836/0/1 - Aldford Stocks

Stocks, almost opposite the Grosvenor Arms Inn, Chester Road. Probably C17 with stonework renewed more recently. Red sandstone and oak. Grooved end stones contain massive oak stocks with four leg-holes. A plain sandstone seat behind the stocks is backed by a retaining wall of square rubble andstone (1).

Recessed into the roadside wall (2).

Stocks adjacent to sandstone revetment wall with agricultural land alongside minor road. Two red sandstone piers measuring 1.13m high by 0.49m wide by 0.36m thick hold a worn split oak plank 1.4m long, with four 3.5cm diameter footholds, in slots measuring 0.9m long by 9cm wide. The 7.5cm thick oak plank is secured by two plates 0.23m long by 4cm wide which close the footholds. Both piers are worn but in good condition. A sandstone seat 0.26m high by 0.3m wide is set 0.6m back from the stocks in the walled recess. The monument is set within the recess created by the 1.06m high wall, c.2m from the roadside (3 & 4).

<1> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /6/3 (Report). SCH1934.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ45NW7/1964 (Index). SCH2487.

<3> Castlering Archaeology, 2008, Cheshire County Council Heritage Assets Condition Assessment 2007, 4593 (Client Report). SCH4931.

<4> Castlering Archaeology, 2008, Cheshire County Council Heritage Assets Condition Assessment 2007, 4593 (Digital Archive). SCH4933.