More information : [SJ 68368940] Moat [GT] (1)
Homestead moat at Rixton Old Hall. (2)
Part of a moat which surrounded Rixton Old Hall is yet visible. The hall which was rebuilt about 1822 contained a domestic chapel. (3)
Rixton Old Hall is a well maintained 19th c building with no trace of any earlier fabric. It is situated to the south of the moat and the former Md house now incorporates it in its own ornamental gardens. The moat is waterfilled and has been kept in good condition. Its sides are mainly precipitous with the water level approx 1m below the interior level. A modern access to the interior probably utilizes the original entrance. No foundations are visible. The published survey (OS 25" 1928) of the moat has been revised. (4)
Condition unchanged. (5)
[SJ 6836940] Moat [NR] (6)
Rixton Old Hall, Manchester Road, Rixton
II
Mansion now used as offices, present building 1822 but site with water filled moat adjoins. Brown brick with slate roof, 2 storey 6 bays including 3 window 2 storey octagonal bay and the east and west wings. Sash windows with glazing bars, flush in octagonal bay, recessed elsewhere, mainly with stone sills and cambered flat arches. Six panel entrance door with winged fanlight and terracotta label. Bay roof has head roll hips. Main roof ridge part sandstone, part lead and part tile. (7)
SJ 68368940 (centred). The moat lies on near-level ground in the bottom of the Mersey valley, some 300m N of the Manchester Ship Canal and 400m E of an isolated meander of the old R Mersey. Its maximum dimensions are 100m SW-NE by 110m NW-SE, but the SE corner gives the impression of having been widened and the moat was probably squarer when originally built. The exterior edge is largely precipitous, on the W upto 2m high but lower on the E with the gentle natural fall of the land in this direction. The inner edge is up to 1m high but the profile of the island is best described as "domed". Vague suggestions of a building platform survive on the island but are unsurveyable. As suggested by auth 4 the modern access onto the island probably utilizes the original entrance. Water level in the moat is maintained by ground seepage and a modern sluice at the NE corner draining into the small valley to the E probably perpetuates the original water management arrangements. The moat was drained in 1980 and dredged down to natural clay; nothing of archaeological interest was recovered by the workmen. About 5,000 fish were removed from the moat at the time. Rixton Old Hall is as described externally by auth 7, and stands immediately S of the moat. Since 1979 it has been the headquarters of Waste Management Ltd., and tipping is underway along the banks of the Ship Canal to the S and W, and also NE of the site where it has encroached to within 3m of the moat edge.
Revised at 1:2500. (8)
SJ 6837 8938. Rixton Old Hall moated site. Scheduled RSM No 23640.
13th century documentary sources indicate that the moat and Old Hall were once part of the medieval village of Rixton, of which there are no visible remains and it is not included in the Scheduling. (9)
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