Building record 604/1/2 - Site of Former Seventeenth Century Barn, Old Abbey Farm

<1> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /4/8 (Report). SCH1934.

Barn at Old Abbey Farm, Silver Lane. Late 17th century. Brown brick. Formerly with stone slate roof.

Barn in unbonded brickwork of late 17th C, 21.5m x 9.3m. Divided into 5 bays by 3 timber roof trusses & a brick wall replacing an earlier truss. Loft has been inserted over 3.5 bays. Central bay open to roof. Probably a rebuild incorporating features of an earlier timber building - probably an open hall barn. Surviving elements are 3 roof trusses, most of the upper and lower purlins, parts of the wall plates and much of the stone plinth. Trusses are of king post type, posts are through tenoned to the massive tie beams. In each truss the king post provides a seating for a pair of mortice and tenoned braces to the truss blades. Plinth, roof trusses and re-used wall plate are medieval in character.

<2> Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, 1990, Old Abbey Farm, Risley, Warrington., R2004 (Client Report). SCH4201.

Archaeological and listed building appraisal undertaken in March/April 1990 by the Lancaster Archaeological Unit at Old Abbey Farm, Risley, Cheshire in advance of the development of a waste disposal landfill site. The farmstead at Old Abbey Farm comprises a small moated homestead occupied by a Grade II listed farmhouse dating to the early mid-seventeenth century with later additions. Additionally, beyond the partially infilled moat is a Grade II listed barn also dated to the seventeenth century. The programme of work comprised a geophysical survey of selected areas of the island and moat, a contour survey of the area surrounding the farmhouse, a building survey of the two listed buildings and an appraisal of the documentary and cartographic evidence relating to the site.

Trench 7 was excavated immediately to the north of the listed barn. It revealed a a surface of large cobbles which were visible on the surface in places outside the barn; below the cobbles were levelling lenses of clay and sand with indications of buried topsoil beneath. A roughly laid path of small cobbles was recorded beyond the western-most of three doorways in the north elevation of the barn. This was partly overlain by a dump of iron-working slag.

<3> Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, 1997, Old Abbey Farm, Risley, Cheshire: Archaeological Assessment Report, R2159 (Client Report). SCH4056.

Further archaeological assessment undertaken at Old Abbey Farm between June 1994 and February 1995. The work comprised further documentary research, field survey, the recording and demolition of the grade II listed farmhouse and barn, also excavation of the farmhouse footings, the moated platform, the causeway and moat, and selected areas outwith the moat.

<4> Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, 1999, Old Abbey Farm, Risley, near Warrington, Cheshire: Building Survey and Excavation at a Medieval Moated Site, R2306 A+B (Client Report). SCH3961.

Final reports produced in 1999 for the programme of recording at Old Abbey Farmhouse, 1994 - 1995. The multi-disciplinary analysis of the results, together with a programme of dendrochronological sampling, has allowed a single account of the chronology and development of the site to be constructed.

Re-used medieval timbers in the farmhouse suggest the presence of an open aisled hall, with a steeply pitched roof, on the site in the thirteenth or very early fourteenth century. In the late medieval period it is probable that the aisles were removed and new timber-framing built below the arcade plates. An excavated clay floor either relates to the modified hall, or perhaps an earlier structure. The moat and platform could not be independently dated, but appear to be at least as old as the re-used timbers (see also 604/1/3). It is not clear how the moat was crossed in the earlier medieval period, but waterlogged timbers recovered demonstrate that a substantial timber bridge was constructed in the mid fifteenth century. Documentary sources indicate that the site lay at the centre of the manorial estate of Pesfurlong, founded in the mid-thirteenth century (see also 604/1/0). A crosswing was added to the hall in the mid-sixteenth century; elements of the timber frame were found within the farmhouse (see 604/1/1) and represent the earliest in situ remains. The footings of a sandstone bridge may also date to this period. From the mid-seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth century, the house was subject to piecemeal underpinning and rebuilding in brick. The brick Lancashire-type barn was also built at this time.

The barn, located to the south-west of the farmhouse and beyond the moat, was largely of single phase construction; later alterations were limited to relatively monor internal remodelling and the addition of modern lean to structures. It was built of hand-made brick with some localised stone footings and is representative of a Lancashire-type barn. These are typically five bays long and consist of a hand-flail threshing barn, with cow house and loft attached at one end, the latter occupying two bays. The Abbey Farm barn had stalling for stock at the north end, threshing floor centrally located and stabling for plough horses to the south. It was a four-bay structure, the north two bays being the cow house. However, the roof was built in five bays. The bond was predominantly irregular, although a variant of English Garden Wall was apparent in places, with the courses of headers separated by five courses of stretchers. A mixture of new and re-used timbers were used for the roof, some potentially medieval in date. Specialist analysis for the re-used wall-plates and purlins indicate the presence of at least two other large structures on site other than the aisled hall, another early aisled structure and a later barn, possibly cruck-framed, and dating to the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century. No direct evidence for such structures was found, although a short length of wall found to the west of the barn possibly represented an earlier brick structure in a similar location, potentially an earlier barn.

<5> UK Waste Management Ltd, Risley Moated Site The Story So Far (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH4562.