Monument record 1969/1 - Eaton Hall - medieval moat and manor

<1> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol 2, p.831 (Book). SCH1389.

Before the Norman Conquest, Eaton contained two Saxon manors,both of which were ejected to make way for Ilbert, one of the minor Norman grantees. The descent of the whole manor appears by the reign of John (C12) to have centred in Richard de Pulford. By about the reign of Edward II the family had taken the name Eaton, and later Grosvenor, by marriage. Family held serjeancy of the Dee from Eaton Weir to Arnoldsheyre (rock opposite Chester Castle now called Arnold's Eye).

<2> Laurie I, 1983, Eaton Estate Landscape Conservation Plan, p.25 (Report). SCH1095.

The Grosvenors became baronets in C17 and Dukes of Westminster in 1874. Map of Eaton Estate before 1682 shows a medieval moated Eaton Hall with a small formal garden, a small island in a wide moat with a summer house, several other buildings, an orchard and two small woodlands (the Spring and the Deane). The approach to the Hall is from Chester along the Roman Road and then along a 'dog leg' lane. South of the Hall are fields and meadows and the latter appear to be divided by drainage channels. The two moats and the buildings on their platforms seemed to have been retained following the building of the new Eaton Hall, and into C18, where they can be seen on a Kip and Badeslade. (see also source 3

<3> Turner R C & Sale C B, 1986, A Medieval Garden at the Belgrave Moat, Cheshire, p.13-14 (Article in Journal). SCH100.

<4> Wilson D et al, 1973-1986, Moated Sites Research Group Records, Eaton Hall_CHER1969_1 (Paper Archive). SCH2205.