Old Abbey Farm, Risley: (Lancaster Imprints)

During the 1990s, Oxford Archaeology North (then Lancaster University Archaeological Unit) conducted a programme of evaluation, building recording, excavation and documentary research at Old Abbey Farm, Risley. This small moated site, now in Warrington Borough, was probably constructed after the sub-division of the manor of Culcheth in 1246; timbers dated by dendrochronology have suggested that a late thirteenth or possibly early fourteenth century aisled hall formerly stood on the moated platform. In the late medieval period the aisles were removed and new timber framing was built below the arcade-plates; the renovated hall was accessed by a substantial fifteenth century timber bridge. A crossing was added to the hall in the mid sixteenth century and the bridge across the moat was rebuilt in stone. From the seventeenth century, the house was subject to piecemeal underpinning and rebuilding in brick, and was extended in the mid eighteenth century. The project provided a rare opportunity to record a building during demolition and subsequently excavate below it, thereby maximising the information retrieval. The project was a runnerup in the British Archaeological Awards for 1996. The project has been generously supported by UK Waste Management Limited (Biffa Waste Services Limited) throughout.

Table of Contents:
List of tables; LIst of illustrations; Contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Historical background; Phase 1- the medieval moated platform, timber-framed hall, and bridge: mid thirteenth to mid sixteenth century; Phase 2 - construction of the southern crosswing and a possible northern wing: mid sixteenth to early seventeenth century; Phase 3 - commencement of rebuilding of the timber hall in brick: early to mid seventeenth century; Phase 4 - rebuilding in brick, and evidence of external cobbling: late seventeenth century to early eighteenth century; Phase 5 - rebuilding in brick, and re-roofing of the central hall: early eighteenth century; Phase 6 - adaptation of the farmhouse, and construction of a new barn: mid eighteenth to nineteenth century; Phase 7 - twentieth century alterations; The finds; Synthesis; Appendix 1; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
by Richard Haewood, Christine Howard-Davis, Denise Drury and Mick Krupa