Building record 604/1/1 - Site of Seventeenth Century Farmhouse, Old Abbey Farm, Risley

<1> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /4/7 (Report). SCH1934.

Old Abbey Farm. Present building is early-mid 17th C. Farmhouse with early 18th C & later alterations. Whitened early brown bricks with stone slate roof. Full architectural description.

<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.

Two trenches were excavated on the moat platform, one outside front door of the farmhouse and the other further south. Both trenches showed natural at 0.5m below surface which had been cut by several features. In one trench a surface of flagstones and a cobbled path were revealed together with pottery of early eighteenth century date. Below the path were postholes cut into natural clay, only one was excavated and contained two sherds of potential medieval pottery. These post holes possibly represent the elements of an earlier structure. The other trench revealed several features with complex fills and a long linear feature orientated east-west, possibly relating to a fence or structure with complex fills and a long linear feature orientated east-west, possibly relating to a fence or structure.

<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. A summary of the proposed phasing for the farmhouse itself is as follows:-

Phase 1 (late thirteenth century): Earliest evidence for occupation of the moated site derives from a limited number of re-used timbers found in two locations in the farmhouse. Six flooring joists from the central hall were cut down sections of former 'A' frame rafters. Also a length of original wall plate was re-used as a wall plate for later phases. A groove cut along the soffit face indicates either a plank wall or plain daub panels with large section square staves. The quality of the early timbers indicate a relatively high status building. A dendrochronological date obtained from two rafters and a section of the wall plate gives a felling date after AD 1261. Mortise and post spacings in the re-used wall plate suggest an open hall building, possibly three and a half bays in length, with the traditional division of parlour, hall and services with a cross passage in a half-bay at the service end of the hall. Potentially the building was one and a half storeys with a steeply pitched roof and an open hearth in the centre of the hall. However, this interpretation is conjectural and derived from limited evidence.

Phase 2 (fifeenth/sixteenth century): Much more evidence was found for this phase, comprising in situ remains of a two-storey cross-wing building. The upper storey was divided into two equal one and a half bay rooms with a wattle and daub partition wall and roof truss. The roof purlins and wind braces bore carpenters marks which matched the wall plates. The cross wing was probably built in the late fifteenth/early sixteenth century using new timbers of a lesser quality than Phase 1, hence enabling differentiation of the two phases. The timbers suggest a box frame structure with large daub panels and close-studding to the end gables with projecting eaves. A small window was located in the upper south elevation and a six-light mullioned window in at least one of the gables. This design indicate signs of social aspiration.

Phases 3, 4 and 5 (late sixteenth - early eighteenth century): This phase is characterised by the piecemeal replacement of the timbered structure with new walls constructed in hand-made brick in three distinct phases. Between the late sixteenth and mid seventeenth centuries the central hearth was replaced by an enclosed hearth located in the presumed position of the former cross passage, forming a 'baffle entry' to the hall which remained open to the roof. This was achieved by building a clay-bonded, brick wall at the rear of the house. The east wall similarly was replaced. During the seventeenth century walls in the western part of the hall were replaced with clay-bonded brick walls but of a lesser quality than before. Other sections of walling occurred in the southern wall of the cross-wing potentially to support a failing timber frame and it is thought likely that probable replacement of the timber framing was undertaken on all faces of the cross-wing. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the interior of the hall was re-modelled accompanied by further re-building of the gables of the cross-wing and parts of the west face of the hall. The open hall was floored over and a series of brick fireplaces were inserted into the former inglenook hearth. A fireplace was also inserted into the upper floor. Both gables of the cross-wing were re-built in brick using a lime mortar with re-defined doors and windows. A north-south dividing wall was inserted into the cross-wing, also a staircase leading to the newly floored upper storey of the hall.

Phase 6 (mid eighteenth to mid nineteenth centuries): Changes in this phase appear to relate to the provision of agricultural facilities at the north end of the house, comprising space for stock at ground floor level with a hayloft over. A more substantial outshut structure seems to have replaced the earlier timber storage facilities constructed against the eastern wall of the hall. The presence of a bread oven built into the south-east corner of the hall indicates that this was the new location for the kitchen.

Phase 7 (twentieth century): This phase comprises the provision of extra domestic facilities, largely obtained through internal reorganisation without major structural alterations.

<4> Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, 1998, Old Abbey Farm, Risley, near Warrington, Cheshire: Documentary Research Final Report (2nd Draft), R2308 (Client Report). SCH3939.

Desk-based research produced in 1998 for Old Abbey Farm, Risley, Warrington.

<5> Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, 1999, Old Abbey Farm, Risley, near Warrington, Cheshire: Building Survey and Excavation at a Medieval Moated Site, R2306 (A and 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 and stone post pads either relate 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 centure 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 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 (see also 604/1/2) was also built at this time. Analysis of the timbers used in the roof of the barn indicate the presence of two other earlier buildings other than the aisled house, these are thought to represent another early aisled building, also a later potentially cruck-framed structure, possibly an earlier barn.

<6> UK Waste Management Ltd, Risley Moated Site The Story So Far (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH4562.