Lower House Farm, Middlebrook, Horwich, Bolton. Archaeological Building Investigation.

Following an application by Orbit Developments (Manchester) Ltd to re-develop the derelict Lower House Farm for use as a nursery a programme of archaeological building recording was requested by the Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit (GMAU). Lower House Farm is Grade II listed (No. 210498) and thought to be of some historic significance.
The investigation was to comprise a detailed survey of the building in order to provide an outline of its form, development, and phases of alteration. A brief documentary
study was also undertaken in order to identify any recorded alterations to the building, owners (and their occupations), and known uses and development.
The documentary study was not able to identify any detailed sources about the building itself other than what was available on the Ordnance Survey maps. The earliest direct reference to the building only dates to 1819. It is considered likely that the site would have been part of a series of complex local land transfers beginning in the later medieval period and as a result its early history is not clear. Nearby Sefton Fold was subject to a similarly detailed survey (GMAU 1992), which concluded that it probably formed part of Heaton family lands in Horwich, which were transferred to the Andertons of Lostock in the sixteenth century. It is probable that Lower House Farm came to the Andertons of Lostock through similar means.