CHESHIRE HISTORIC TOWNS SURVEY Alderley Edge and Nether Alderley Archaeological Assessment 2003 CHESHIRE HISTORIC TOWNS SURVEY Ellesmere Port Archaeological Assessment 2003 Environmental Planning Cheshire County Council Backford Hall Backford Chester CH1 6PZ These reports are the copyright of Cheshire County Council and English Heritage. The Ordnance Survey mapping within this document is provided by Cheshire County Council under licence from the Ordnance Survey, in order to fulfil its public function to make available Council held public domain information. The mapping is intended to illustrate the spatial changes that have occurred during the historical development of Cheshire towns. Persons viewing this mapping should contact Ordnance Survey copyright for advice where they wish to licence Ordnance Survey mapping/map data for their own use. The OS web site can be found at www.ordsvy.gov.uk ALDERLEY EDGE AND NETHER ALDERLEY ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Jo Clark 1. SUMMARY During the medieval period, both the manor of Nether Alderley and the township of Chorley comprised small, dispersed settlement. This is still true of Nether Alderley today. However, in the mid-19th century, Chorley became a popular and desirable location to live and its expansion, prompted by the arrival of the railway, caused its name to be changed to Alderley Edge, so as to avoid confusion with Chorley in Lancashire (Carlon 1979, 11). The close proximity and shared histories of Nether Alderley and Alderley Edge has meant that the most effective method of assessment is to consider both settlements in one report. 1.1 Topography and Geology Nether Alderley and Alderley Edge are located in north-eastern Cheshire. Nether Alderley is 4km south of Wilmslow and 8km north-west of Macclesfield, and is situated on a gentle west facing slope at c91m AOD. The centre of Alderley Edge, 2km to the north of Nether Alderley, also lies c91m AOD. The scarp of Alderley Edge is to the east of its namesake and north-east of Nether Alderley and has a maximum height of 182m AOD. To the west of both townships is the flat Cheshire Plain. To differentiate between Alderley Edge settlement and Alderley Edge scarp, the term the‘Edge’ shall be used to define the sandstone outcrop. Both Nether Alderley and Alderley Edge have a drift geology of boulder clay. The Edge comprises keuper sandstone with conglomerates at its base, which are banded with upper mottled sandstone. There are also a number of mineral veins running through the Edge. To the east of Alderley Edge is an alluvium spread (British Geological Survey 1962). Nether Alderley’s soils are argillic brown earths, which are suited to pasture and graded class 3. The soils surrounding Alderley Edge are typical stagnogleys, ideal for grassland and also graded class 3 (Furness 1978, 73). Both settlements are located on the A34. Mobberley Brook runs to the north of Alderley Edge and Pedley Brook runs west of Nether Alderley. There are a number of ponds in the area, particularly in Alderley Park, where there are a variety of functional and decorative ponds and lakes. 1.2 Administrative Unit Nether Alderley township in the Parish of Nether Alderley, formerly lay in the Parish of Alderley. This was an ancient parochial Chapelry of Prestbury that had become Cheshire Historic Towns Survey 1 © Cheshire County Council and English Heritage 2002 independent by 1328 (Ormerod 1882,565,568). Chorley was a township in Wilmslow Parish, later part of the newly created Parish of Alderley Edge. Both Nether Alderley and Alderley Edge lay in Macclesfield Hundred and Macclesfield Deanery (Dunn 1987, 34). 1.3 Place Name The place-name Alderley, which appears in a variety of forms: Aldredelie (1086), Aldredis (1208), Aldeldeleg (1286), indicates that the name originated from Aldred’s Clearing, i.e. Aldred and leah. The Nether pre-fix suggests that this was the inferior of the two settlements of Nether and Over Alderley (Dodgson, 1970, 94-5). Chorley or Chorlegh suggests a ‘peasants clearing’ from ceorl and leah. Alderley Edge township was named after the large sandstone outcrop that stands to the east of the settlement (Dodgson, 1970, 225). 2. SOURCES 2.1 Historical Little attention has been paid to Nether Alderley beyond a short pamphlet written by the National Trust about the restoration of the Water Mill (Boucher, 1980). The main historical sources are therefore Earwaker’s East Cheshire Past and Present (1880) and Ormerod’s Cheshire history (1882). Also, useful information about mining on Alderley Edge is provided by Carlon The Alderley Edge Mines (1979). The Alderley Edge Landscape Project was set up in 1996 under the auspices of The Manchester Museum and the National Trust. This is a multi disciplinary project, which includes archaeological fieldwork and a survey of historic buildings and it has generated a large amount of information held in gazetteer format. The focus of the study is the Edge itself, while the urban area is treated as part of the projects’ hinterland. The full report is awaited. Detailed documents for Chorley and Nether Alderley are available in the County Record Office, for example the De Trafford family papers (CRO DTT), but unfortunately these are beyond the remit of the present assessment. 2.2 Cartographic On Saxton’s County map of 1577, both Chorley and Alderley are depicted. On Speed’s County map of 1610 both Chorley and Over Alderley are identified but Nether Alderley is not. The earliest map to show a schematic plan of the road pattern is Burdett’s map of Cheshire (1777), and there is also an estate map of Nether Alderley dated 1787. Detailed information is provided by the tithe maps of Chorley (1841) and Nether Alderley (1842) and the Ordnance Survey (OS) 6”: 1 mile map surveyed 1871-2. 2.3 Archaeological Cheshire Historic Towns Survey 2 © Cheshire County Council and English Heritage 2002 Before this assessment there were thirteen sites recorded in the County Sites and Monuments Record (CSMR) in the settled area of Alderley Edge and twenty eight in the settled area of Nether Alderley. Also, there were 44 sites recorded on the Edge itself. All of these sites are identified in Figure 1 and where sites and finds have been identified from the CSMR the relevant reference is provided throughout this report. This survey has added a further eleven records to the CSMR. Archaeological excavation has tended to concentrate upon the Edge itself. The only archaeological work known to have taken place in the study area is an evaluation and watching brief at the Old Hall, Nether Alderley, carried out in 1994 and 1995 respectively by Earthworks Archaeological Services (CSMR 1404/2/1). This work revealed a burnt layer that is possibly associated with the fire that destroyed the house in 1779, along with 17th and 18th century features, including a brick lined culvert and well (Earthworks, 1994 and 1995). 3. HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SUMMARY: (Figure 1) 3.1 Prehistoric There are no recorded prehistoric sites or findspots in the township of Alderley Edge, while at Nether Alderley just one find is known. This prehistoric sandstone anvil stone was discovered in 1933 in the school grounds to the north of the Old Hall (CSMR 1403). However, in the immediately surrounding area, the sandstone outcrop of Alderley Edge has been the focus of prehistoric activity since at least the Mesolithic period. A number of flint scatters have been identified, for example, Castle Rock Field, which was partially excavated in 1894-1905 revealed blades, scrapers, cores, flakes and borers. 19th century copper mining on the Edge revealed traces of Bronze Age workings, with the discovery of hammer stones in their spoil heaps, for example, at Engine Vein and Windmill Wood (Harris and Thacker, 1987, 78). It was noted by Dr Sainter of Macclesfield in 1878, that “..some hammers were lying upon the sand and gravel, 1-2 feet below the surface….others have been left in some old diggings of the copper ore, from 12-16 feet in depth, along with an old, very roughly used oaken shovel” (Roeder and Graves, 1905, 17-30). The Bronze Age wooden shovel has been confirmed by radiocarbon dating to have a calibrated date range of 1888-1677 BC. Also, a Bronze Age sword was discovered on the Edge in 1871 (CSMR 1440/0/13). Other prehistoric sites in the immediately surrounding area include a possible Bronze Age barrow at Sodger’s Hump, which is a round earthen mound on a natural knoll south of Nether Alderley (Harris and Thacker, 1987, 82; CSMR 1337); and south- east of Alderley Park, due west of Birtles Hall is a scheduled barrow (SAM 22577, CSMR 1364/1) with two other possible barrows in the immediate vicinity of this (CSMR 1364 2/3). 3.2 Roman There are just two records in the CSMR that refer to the Roman period, both of which are located on the Edge. The first refers to a hoard of 533 4th century Roman Cheshire Historic Towns Survey 3 © Cheshire County Council and English Heritage 2002 coins that was discovered by the Derbyshire Caving Club in a disused mine shaft in 1995. This confirms that the Edge was mined during the Romano-British period and it has been suggested that Roman copper working at Wilderspool possibly used copper ore from Alderley Edge (Crosby 1996, 25). The second record is that of four 4th century coins, which are alleged to have been found in a pot hole on the Edge (CSMR 1441). Another reference to potential Roman activity is that of an “..old road (marked on the Ordnance Survey Map ‘Street Lane’) [which] runs from Hanford to the south, through Wilmslow and Alderley …[and]…by its irregular course the road seems to have been a British one, utilised by the Romans, though it was never a way of very much importance” (Watkin 1886, 79).