Bewsey Old Hall, Warrington, Cheshire: excavations 1977-81 and 1983-5 - Jennifer Lewis

Bewsey Old Hall has a long and archaeologically well-documented existence. It is a Scheduled Monument , but was effectively derelict in the late 1970s, when plans for sympathetic restoration and redevelopment of this important moated site gave the opportunity for the standing buildings (some dating back to the seventeenth century) to be recorded. The extensive archaeological excavations examined a large part of the moated platform, and were intended to place the house within its physical and chronological context. In addition, this was supplemented by detailed documentary research, which offered an unusual chance to place the site within its regional socio-political context. Excavations took place in 1977-81 and again in 1983-5. Analysis of the large body of data recovered, begun in 1985 but laid aside in 1987, was resumed in 1993 and finally completed in 1996, at which point a draft report was submitted to English Heritage. A revised version of that draft forms the basis of this publication.Bewsey’s origins lay in the thirteenth century, perhaps originating as a hunting lodge in the royal forest of Burtonwood. It became the principal seat of the Butlers, Barons of Warrington, after their original hall, Mote Hill in Warrington, was destroyed by fire in the late thirteenth century. The earliest coherent archaeological evidence from the site suggests that a large timber-built aisled hall and a range of smaller service buildings were erected on the site at about that time, pre
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