Description
A small farmstead acquired by the National Trust in 2006. The buildings are mostly 20th century in origin but the farm house may contain earlier 17th or 18th century elements. An inglenook fire place survives in the rear wing. The map evidence indicated the front wing rebuilt c 1900 in the Stanley estate style may replace an earlier timber structure. It is possible the farmstead has medieval origins and the building may be located on the site of earlier structures. Ridge and furrow survives to the west and some of the field boundaries and their trees are indicated on the Crossley map of 1877.
It is thought that Nether Alderley formed a nucleated village in the medieval period with its historic core the church, around 1km south-west of the Butts, but there is also evidence for early settlement in the area of Welsh Row (now Artists Lane) . The village would have been served by one or two large open fields, one of which, Town Field, may have extended as far as Artists Lane, with the Butts marking the boundary between cultivated land and the uncultivated common. The name butts is believed to be synonymous with pinfold, a small walled or fenced enclosure typically used for confining livestock which had strayed beyond their allotted grazing or had otherwise transgressed customary arrangements, and such structures were frequently positioned at the edge of the agricultural land. Court documents from the 16th century record that there was such a pinfold in the vicinity of the Butts and one possible site for it has been postulated, about 300m from the present farm . Another variation on the use of the name butts is in butts strips, thought to have denoted small linear paddocks within the open field, also used for impounding livestock.
In summary, the farm’s name is indicative of a location near the edge of cultivated land, and suggests that it was established at a time when open field farming ceased, and formerly communal areas were enclosed for individual occupation, at the end of the medieval period or at the beginning of the post-medieval (perhaps the 16th or 17th century).
The 18th century
Historical research shows that there has been relatively little change in the general layout of the farmstead over the last 230 years. A map of 1777 by Burdett shows the area (Figure 4): at this date Welch Row (now Artists Lane) had a number of small farms or cottages along both sides, as it does today.
A much more detailed depiction is given by the 1787 map drawn up for the Stanley Estate, owners of much of Nether Alderley and adjoining areas (Figure 5). This shows the house at the Butts as T-shaped, with the south-east range longer than the present one. Four outbuildings are shown, of which the southernmost corresponds approximately with the present Building 2. Of the other three buildings, the central one is in the approximate position of today’s largely demolished Building 5, but the other two have clearly not survived. The map also shows an extensive garden and orchard to the east of the house, and it is notable that the access from Artists Lane was more direct than it is today. The number 228 assigned to the farmstead is referred to in an account book of the early 19th century, but no sources contemporary with the map. The account book shows that the farm was rented to “Norbury, Widow, succeeded John Dewsbury” and had been let to Joseph Norbury from 2 February and 1 May 1823 for seven years, at £63 per year. The farm then comprised a little over 27 statute acres, including seven fields as well as the buildings and gardens. More details about the landholding at that time are given in the separate report noted above.
The 19th century
The next useful map is Bryant’s map of Cheshire, of 1831 (Figure 6), which although of small scale, does show that the dog-leg track from the Butts to Welch Row, the arrangement which survives today, had been established.
The tithe map for Nether Alderley made in 1842 shows the farm rather schematically (Figure 7), and it seems likely that this was copied from the 1787 map, so it might be unwise to assume that no changes had taken place at the farm, although the field boundaries are shown slightly differently, and the new access to Welch Row is shown. Enclosure 505 is recorded in the tithe apportionment as “homestead”, used as “meadow”, owned by the Rt Hon John Thomas Baron Stanley of Alderley, and still let to Mary Norbury. According to the 1841 census, Mary Norbury was 35 years old and lived there with her daughter Caroline; further details are illegible and there may have been other occupants at that time. No entry for the farm can be found in the 1851 census but in 1861 it was occupied by John Rose, 49, a farmer of 50 acres. Also resident was his wife Elizabeth (40), four children (Thomas, 12, George, 8, Elizabeth, 6, and Ellen, 3), and John Fitchet, a 40 year old servant. The Rose family still lived there in 1871 although Thomas and George appear to have left home by then.
In terms of what can be deduced from maps, relatively little change took place between 1842 and 1872: the Ordnance Survey’s first edition 1:2500 map of the latter date (Figure 8) shows four buildings which correspond approximately to those shown in 1842, as well as a new circular building to the north. The northernmost building on the tithe map had, however, been demolished. The detail in this map is the best so far and shows the south-east range of the house much longer than at present, and apparently separated from the north-west wing, which has an irregular outline. A pump is shown in the yard, and the surrounding gardens have a network of paths. No entry for the farm can be found in the 1881 census, but in the 1891 census it was recorded as occupied by Charles Hatton, a 25 year old farmer, his wife Ellen, their one-year old daughter Mary, and Lucy Mason, 14, a domestic servant. Ten years later Charles and Ellen had another four children: Ralph (9), William (7), Sarah (4) and Alfred (2).
Between 1872 and 1897 very little change was recorded at the Butts by the Ordnance Survey (Figure 9): a new open-sided outbuilding was added to the north of the farmstead and new pens were built around the small outbuilding which may survive as Building 5, their form suggesting that this was used as pig sties.
The 20th century
The period between 1897 and 17 saw the house altered a great deal: by the latter date it had acquired its present outline, with the exception of the rear outshot along the north-west side. This was clearly the decade when the front, south-east range was replaced. Also during this time, the circular outbuilding to the north appears to have become roofless.
At the time of the District Land Valuation of 1912, the Butts or Butts Farm was recorded as holding 892, comprising 27 acres, the occupier still Charles Hatton (CRO NVB: 28.13, NVA 4/2). Hatton was clearly able to purchase the property during the sale and dispersal of the Stanley family’s Alderley Park Estates in 1938 (it is thought to have been a private agreement rather than a sale by auction): at that time the Butts formed lot no 384 and was described as a “useful dairy farm”. The particulars describe the house as having kitchen, living room, scullery, larder, two pantries, sitting room, three bed rooms, box rooms, box room (sic) and attic; a photograph included in the particulars shows the front of the house much as it is today, although with a cultivated front garden in contrast to the present grassed area. It is not possible to assign all of the rooms in the house to those present today, but this matter is discussed within the description of the house given below. The particulars describe the farm buildings as comprising a shippon for 13 cows, another for four with “fodder bing”, a barn, implement shed, boiler house, two stall stable (with loft over) and piggeries: none of these are thought to have survived except perhaps for parts of the piggeries.
Between 1907 and 1968, the Ordnance Survey recorded that the house’s north-west outshot (containing the present kitchen) was added, and that the circular building was demolished. It is not known what the latter was, its unusual outline being something of an enigma. Of the other farm buildings, Building 2 appears to have remained unchanged, apart from an area of infill at its southern corner, while that which corresponds with Building 3 was extended in two directions. Whether the present Building 3 (a Dutch barn) was extant by this date, or was added later, is not known. Building 4 was built during this period, while Building 5 was demolished or became rudundant.
The farm remained in the ownership of the Hatton family until the death in around 2005 of its last occupant, Walter Hatton, believed to be the son of Ralph Hatton, eldest son of Charles. A number of diaries written by Walter in the 1940s survive and are currently in the possession of the National Trust, but are uncatalogued. They record daily life on the farm, such as growing cabbages and potatoes, pig-keeping, working horses, and threshing by machine.
A small farmstead was acquired by the National Trust in 2006. The buildings are mostly twentieth century in origin but the farmhouse (Site 218) contains seventeenth- or eighteenth-century elements in the rear wing. The front wing was rebuilt c 1900 in the Stanley Estate style. It is possible that the farmstead has medieval origins. It is thought that Nether Alderley formed a nucleated village in the medieval period, with the church at its historic core, around 1km south-west of the Butts, but there is also evidence for early settlement in the area of Welsh Row (now Artist’s Lane). The village would have been served by one or two large open fields, one of which, Town Field, may have extended as far as Artist’s Lane, with the Butts marking the boundary between cultivated land and the uncultivated common (OAN 2018).