During the 1990s, Oxford Archaeology North (then Lancaster University
Archaeological Unit) conducted a programme of evaluation, building
recording, excavation and documentary research at Old Abbey Farm,
Risley. This small moated site, now in Warrington Borough, was probably
constructed after the sub-division of the manor of Culcheth in 1246;
timbers dated by dendrochronology have suggested that a late thirteenth
or possibly early fourteenth century aisled hall formerly stood on the
moated platform. In the late medieval period the aisles were removed and
new timber framing was built below the arcade-plates; the renovated hall
was accessed by a substantial fifteenth century timber bridge. A
crossing was added to the hall in the mid sixteenth century and the
bridge across the moat was rebuilt in stone. From the seventeenth
century, the house was subject to piecemeal underpinning and rebuilding
in brick, and was extended in the mid eighteenth century. The project
provided a rare opportunity to record a building during demolition and
subsequently excavate below it, thereby maximising the information
retrieval. The project was a runnerup in the British Archaeological
Awards for 1996. The project has been generously supported by UK Waste
Management Limited (Biffa Waste Services Limited) throughout.