More information : (SJ 474482) Possible deserted hamlet comprising three of four steadings with a field way (1).
At SJ 47564828 there is a single building platform, with small enclosures adjoining, probably representing a farm. At SJ 47484824, on either side of an old road leading from the first site, are two further platforms; one probably the site of a cottage and its' garden, the other a larger building, possibly a barn.
From their association with some old field boundaries it seems that the buildings were probably of Medieval or post-Medieval date (2).
Scheduled (3).
The medieval / post medieval settlement and associated field system located to the east and north of Overton Hall was mapped from aerial photography and lidar imagery as part of the Cheshire National Mapping Programme project. The majority of the earthworks appear to remain extant on the latest 2010 aerial photography, though a small number have been levelled. The earthworks, centred at approximately SJ 474 483, extend to south-east, north and north-west of the area covered by the current Scheduling.
The main focus of the settlement appears to be a hollow way which bifurcates at SJ 4746 4821 to run to the north-west and north-east. At the point at which the routeway splits are a couple of platforms which may represent settlement remains. The majority of the settlement however is located to the immediate east of the north-east branch of the hollow way, with seven or eight platforms or tofts and associated rectilinear enclosures and smaller hollow ways, centred at approximately SJ 4756 4828.
Extensive medieval / post medieval ridge and furrow field system and associated plough headlands and field boundaries stretch to south-east, north and north-west of the heart of the settlement. A further cluster of hollow ways and rectilinear enclosures is located around SJ 4706 4840, to the immediate north-west of Overton Hall and may represent another settlement focus.
A later trackway runs to the south of the main settlement remains, cutting through the hollow way, whilst a large quarry to the north of Overton Hall has removed a large part of the associated field system (4-7). |