Fisherman's Hut at Cockhead, Bollinhurst Reservoir, Disley, Cheshire- Rapid Desk-based Assessment

United Utilities requested that Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertake the desk-based research of a small structure identified as a fisherman’s hut, which lies on the north bank of Bollinhurst Impounding Reservoir, Cockhead, near Disley, Cheshire (SJ 9730 8360). The reservoir is situated on the north-east fringes of Lyme Park, a National Trust property, which lies on the Cheshire and Derbyshire border, some 20km south-east of Manchester.
A proposed scheme of improvements to the reservoir, which may yet include the demolition of the fisherman’s hut, has already been outlined by United Utilities. However, in light of the building’s proximity to Lyme Park, the National Trust recommended that desk-based research be undertaken prior to any decision on the fate of the building being reached.
The research has concluded that the fisherman’s hut is of limited value only. Cartographic sources demonstrate that it is not of great antiquity, and was only built during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. A study of the HER appears to offer little information on the building, nor is it listed, which would strongly suggest that it is not architecturally, socially or historically of great consequence. Moreover, far from being a fisherman’s hut, its proximity to the reservoir and to the boundary wall would suggest that it was built at the same time or shortly after the wall and reservoir dam were erected. The building appears to be the housing for the valve shaft of the overflow system, and also probably has functioned at some point as an office for maintenance staff.