Monument record 456/1/1 - Site of Bruche Hall, Medieval Moated Manor

<1> Farrer W & Brownbill J, 1906-14, The Victoria County History of the County of Lancaster, p.329 1907 (Book). SCH3636.

Manorial history of Bruche ranges from the 13th C to 1891. The hall with 'some old farm buildings' is mentioned in 1584.

<2> Farrer W & Brownbill J, 1906-14, The Victoria County History of the County of Lancaster, p.550 1908 (Book). SCH3636.

Site is included in a list of moats as 'Bruch Hall'

<3> Beamont W, 1878, The History of Bruche Hall near Warrington (Oral Communication). SCH3130.

Bruche Hall was the seat of the Bruche family until the manor was sold to Sir Peter Legh of Lyme c.1602. He rebuilt the hall which had fallen into decay. New Hall had 2 gables and a centre. In 1878 the one surviving bay of this hall had an open raftered roof, which was perhaps originally the upper part of the great hall.

<4> Department for the Environment, Various, Provisional List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1964 (Report). SCH2744.

One wing of the 1602 manor house was incorporated into an 18th C mansion, which later became St Benedict's Convent. This was a Grade II star listed building with early (prob 1602) roof trusses & purlins in a first floor room, until its demolition in 1971.

<5> Carter G A, 1971, Warrington and the Mid-Mersey Valley, p.26-27 (Book). SCH3679.

In the 19th C the estate and hall became the property of Jonathan Jackson, a soap manufacturer & in 1824 was purchased by Thomas Parr. By 1927 hall & 11 acres of grounds were purchased by RC community.

<6> Lewis J, 2000, The Medieval Earthworks of the Hundred of West Derby (Monograph). SCH3778.

Before 1219 the estate of Bruche was given by Robert Banastre to the Butlers of warrington as 2 oxgangs of land. Half was granted to the Waleys family of Uplitherland and Aughton and appears to have descended to the ancestor of Bruche. Bruche Hall it seems was attached to that holding. In 1584 the hall was held in divided ownership by Hamlet and Roger Bruche. A new house was built in 1602 and one wing was incorporated into an 18th century house. Some or all of this was demolished in 1971. In 1960 slight remains of the counterscarp of a moat were visible for 82m and had an average height of 1m. The remains of the moat were dry but a stream to the north had probably suppied the moat at the eastern end of the counterscarp. The site is now occupied by modern buildings but traces of the moat are possibly still visible in the grounds.

<7> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 1996, An Archaeological Watching Brief at St Benedicts Convent, Bruche Avenue, Warrington., R2163 (Client Report). SCH4052.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in 1996 during excavation of groundworks for a housing development at the site of Bruche Hall. Although little evidence for the early occupation of the moated site was observed, a deeply cut pit of indeterminatedate was founnd in a trench on east of the site. Also the general line of north arm of the moat (see monument 456/1/2) was confirmed and a trench in the north-west corner of the site probably established the line of the west arm of the moat, with layers of organic material and sandy silt above natural clay subsoil. Finds from the lower fills of the moat indicate that a programme of cleaning out took place, probably in the nineteenth century. Finds included pottery of eighteenth to twentieth century date.