Chorlton Fold Farm, Eccles, Greater Manchester- Building Investigation

Nuttall Construction Ltd, made a planning application to Salford City Council to demolish the farmstead at Chorlton Fold Farm, Chorlton Fold, Eccles, Greater Manchester (SD 7694 0001) prior to the redevelopment of the site. As part of the planning procedure, the council consulted Greater Manchester Archaeology Unit (GMAU), which recommended a building recording programme of English Heritage (2006) Level II standard for the farmhouse and barn. This was to include a rapid desk-based assessment, which would provide an historical background and detail any changes in the development of the buildings. In addition, an extensive site investigation was to be undertaken, comprising written descriptions, as well an extensive photographic record, and site drawings of the floor plans and sections. As the oubuildings and Dutch barn were of less significance, these were to be recorded to a Level I standard only, which was to include general descriptions, sketch drawings and a photographic record.
Following these recommendations, Nuttall Construction Ltd requested that Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) undertake the building investigation, which was duly completed in November 2006. The survey determined that the farmhouse was built during the eighteenth century as a two unit dwelling, which was subsequently expanded with a further bay to the west elevation, followed by a rear wing during the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The barn to the north of the farmhouse and the more westerly of the outbuildings to the north-east were also constructed during this original phase of construction. During the nineteenth century, as farming trends shifted from arable farming to dairy farming, a second outbuilding, used as a cattle-shed, was built, as was the Dutch barn to the east of the farmstead. Throughout the twentieth century, the alterations were purely cosmetic repairs and renovations, such as the replacement of the original windows on the farmhouse.