Barn Conversion at Salter Hall Farm, Kirkland, Cumbria. Archaeological Building Investigation.

Following a proposal to convert a barn at Salter Hall Farm (NY 059 169) to residential use the Copeland Borough Council requested a programme of archaeological recording be undertaken. Following consultation with the Cumbria
County Council Historic Environment Service it was agreed that this should comprise a RCHME Level-II type survey. During this phase of work it became apparent that the
building contained significant fabric from the remains of the sixteenth century Salter Hall. Additional survey to a Level-III type standard was therefore requested for the
early remains.
Salter is known to have its origins in the medieval period, although the place-name is Norse, and was a grange of the Abbey of St Mary in York and St Bees Priory. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the site was sold to the Salkeld family who built the hall in 1583 or 1586. It subsequently passed through a number of families until the coming to the Dickinsons at the end of the eighteenth century, who used it as a farmhouse. It continued to be used as such throughout the nineteenth century, although the increasing activity of local iron mines began to have a
detrimental effect on it by the beginning of the twentieth century; it was said that the miners could be heard working beneath the building. The hall was almost entirely
demolished between c1913 and 1925, leaving the attached barns and one wall standing.