Boults Green Farm is one of three farms which, along with a vicarage and several private dwellings, make up the hamlet of Boults Green in the parish of Betchton in Cheshire. The Grade II listed, half-timbered farmhouse and the Grade II listed, half-timbered barn date from the mid-sixteenth century.
The hamlet of Boults Green The hamlet is a small, loosely defined area of land, lying east of the A533, on either side of Colley Lane (part of which is now called Vicarage Lane) from the Dubthorn crossroads, to the point where the lane, on its route to Sandbach and Malkins Bank, crosses the Drumber stream, a tributary of the River Wheelock. To the west the area is bordered by this small river, and to the south-east it is now bordered by the M6 Motorway.
Boults Green consists of three farms; Cross Farm, Vicarage Farm, formerly called Stanway House, which is said by Massey to have been built on the actual Boults Green,Massey Cyril (1958) History of Sandbach and District Johnsons of Nantwich pages 18, 19 & 20 and Boults Green Farm, referred to in the past as Boults Green House. There is also the Vicarage and a handful of dwellings. The whole extends in total to less than three hundred acres. There has been an average population of 35 recorded on the ten census returns since 1841. The population was at its highest in 1891 when the hamlet had fifty-four inhabitants. The vicarage, called Tall Chimneys, built in 1848, is now divided into several apartments. The farmland of these three farms is latterly used mainly for equestrian, or let to farmers from outside the hamlet.
History of Boults Green Farm In an agreement of the 30th April 1647, Thomas Moulson of London conveyed to his uncle, William Leversage, the elder, of Wheelock, Esq. a farm called Bolts Farm in Betchton.
On the first fly-leaf of Vol II of the Sandbach church register of baptisms, marriages and burials 1699 - 1764 there is a memorandum, being a note of the sermons still to be preached in the parish Church of Sandbach which includes the following:
April 26. Parrott's Sermon, paid from Bolt's Green. Minister £2 0. Clerk 10s. In 1886 Earwaker saw a framed copy of this paper hanging in the church vestry.
Boults Green Farm main house
Thought to have been built in the mid sixteenth century, the Grade II listed,Historic England. Listed Building Entry Number 1330046 Listed 26 March 1987. Cheshire East Grid Ref SJ7693859898 cruck- framed, half-timbered house forms a 'T' shape, with its jettied wing facing north-westerly. The five ground floor rooms and five first floor bedrooms are served by a winding oak stairway extending from a small cellar to the attics above. Formerly of oak with leaded panes, the original windows are lost, replaced by modern casements. The original wattle and daub between the timbers has been replaced by brick infill, and where little or no timber remains it is replicated on the brickwork in black paint. The roof is of blue-black tile and painted barge boards. Brick-built chimneys provided flues for open fires in all rooms on both floors, and to the cellar. To the road frontage is a wall in matching brick through which stone steps lead to a gateway with brick and stone pillars. Once topped by round stone balls, the gate pillars are grade II listed.Historic England. Listed Building Entry Number 1309971 Listed 26 March 1987. Cheshire East Grid Ref SJ7693859898 The higher part of this wall formed the rear wall of two pig sties, brick built with flagstone roof.
In the late nineteenth or early twentieth century a brick extension was added to the rear to provide two extra rooms on each floor and a further flight of stairs. A small brick porch was added to the front.
At a similar period a brick and tile dairy with wash house was built. This building, along with the house, the pig sty and the end of the half-timbered barn enclose a small yard with a well where a hand pump formerly stood providing water for the house and dairy.
Boults Green Farm buildings A Grade II listed, two-storey, half-timbered barnHistoric England. Listed Building Entry Number 1138759 Listed 26 March 1987. Cheshire East Grid Ref SJ7693859898 of the same era and style as the house is set at an angle to Colley Lane. Again, most of the wattle and daub has been replaced by brick infill. Differences in the design of sections of the infill suggest these were done at different times. The barn provided two cart sheds with double doors, a meal house, a shippon (byre) for six and a loose box. Pitching holes to front and rear gave access for storage on the upper floor. At the northern end a set of stone steps to provide access to a grain store, and, below the steps, a dog kennel.
The roof is of tile to the front (the north-east), and of large random stone flags to the rear (the south west). The building has tilted, leaving the roof angle far steeper at the front than the rear.
In the nineteenth or early twentieth century a brick and tile extension was added to the southern end with shippon and store at ground level and loft above. At the rear, with access to the meal-house, a single-storey engine house of brick and slate was added to house a petrol engine and electric motor to power a vacuum milking machine and lineshaft. The lineshaft powered a grain grinder, a straw chopper and a root pulper. Vacuum pipes were installed to the shippons. There were indications of a horse gin-circleNational Trust Heritage Records on Line Horse-gin circle adjacent to the threshing barn, Coniston Hall Farm. Record ID: 22959/MNA121428 Monument World Heritage Site National Trust property: Coniston Parish: North Coniston, South Lakeland Grid Ref SD30419624 existing here before the engine house was built. A later addition, set against the wall of the steps, was a small lean-to store built of brick and roofed with tile. A Galvanised iron lean-to shed for implement storage was erected against the rear wall of the half-timbered barn. Now removed.
Again in the nineteenth or early twentieth century, a brick and tile-roofed building was erected at right angle to Colley Lane. This new building provided a bull pen, a stable for three horses and shippons with stalls for thirty-six milking cows. Part is single storey, part with storage loft above with round pitching holes. This may have replaced an earlier building on this site. Together with the existing half-timbered barn, pig sty and wall, the new building enclosed the triangular farmyard, part of which retains the cobbled surface, possibly as old as the original barn. Now converted to a dwelling.
At a later date a four-bay Cheshire barn was erected with brick uprights and tiled roof, providing a grain store and storage for hay and straw. Alongside a galvanised iron roofed Dutch barn.
To the west of the house, in the field called the Kiln Yard, stood a two-storey building of brick and tile, the tile roof later replaced by galvanised iron. The style and bricks matched none in the other buildings. It does not appear on the 1841 tithe mapCheshire Archives and Local Studies Cheshire Tithe Maps Online Grid Ref SJ771599 Map Ref EDT 44/2 Township Betchton Map Date 1841 Available at Cheshire Tithe Maps Online and was removed in the 1980s. Alongside was a timber building housing laying hens in cages built in the early 1960s (now removed), and a potato store built of curved, corrugated asbestos sheets.
In 1955, two coke-fired glasshouses were erected to the south of the house (now removed), and a number of poultry houses stood in the two orchards to house free range laying hens.
1955 saw the beginning of the last chapter of Boults Green farm as a working family-farm. At that time, the farm buildings could house a milking herd of up to forty-two cows, three working horses, a number of young cattle and poultry, and stys for two sows with their litters. There was storage space sufficient for the hay, straw and the grain the farm produced without need of outside ricks. Tractors and farm implements could be stored under cover.
The farmland, geology and soil
The farmland, lying to the south of the house, straddling Stannerhouse Lane, and to the west of Colley Lane, is recorded over time as being between 100 and 120 acres.
Throughout Cheshire are found glacial deposits. The passage of streams and rivers has cut through these deposits in the post-glacial period, and there is an accumulation of alluvium. The farm lies in the Cheshire Brine Subsidence District.Cheshire Brine Subsidence and Compensation District and Consultation Areas Map Available online at www.cheshireonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/NL08134-001-002.pdf Salt and brine are found beneath much of the county, the first borings at Malkins Bank, Betchton being made in 1692.Twemlow Frances Randle (1910) The Twemlows Their Wives and Houses From original Records Published by Whitehead Brothers Wolverhampton. Pages 14, 24 & 25 The farm is included in the Nitrate Vulneral Zone designated in 2002.UK Soil Observatory Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Available online at www.ukso.org/static-maps/nitrate-vulnerable-zones-html Like much of the Cheshire Plain, the soil of Boults Green is classified as grade 3, good to moderate. The soil is a light, friable loam over a mainly sand subsoil with occasional pockets of boulder clay. Fox benchLeigh, Egerton (1877) A Glossary of Words Used in the Dialect of Cheshire Wilbraham, Roger, F. R. S. 1817 Attempt at a glossary of some words used in Cheshire Hamilton & Adams, and Co.; Chester, Minshull and Hughes is found and occasional small deposits of iron pyrites (FeS2) or fool's gold. The soil is slightly acid, free draining, but liable to capping, and to the development of ploughing pan if worked while wet. It is suitable for grassland and the growing of most arable crops.
The two watercourses, surface ditches, ponds and the outlets from field drains provided drinking water for stock in many fields. The result of small scale sand extraction and, possibly as a result of brine subsidence, the farm has several sand-holes, dry hollows and sunken features. Those ponds holding water were clay lined. In 1962, five ponds and hollows were filled with spoil from the building of the M6 motorway. Over the years, others have become clogged with sand carried down by drains.
Boults Green's light soil and sand holes provide an ideal habitat for rabbits. Until the early 1950s, when they were virtually wiped out by myxomatosis, rabbits presented a serious problem, eating grass, cereals and vegetable crops. Their warrens, undermining open ground, were a danger to grazing and draught animals, and a hazard to vehicles.
In 1955, three-quarters of Boults Green Farm was permanent pasture, in some of which remained ridge and furrow features. These are known in Cheshire dialect as but and reean, or cop and reean.Leigh, Egerton (1877) A Glossary of Words Used in the Dialect of Cheshire Founded on a similar attempt by Roger Wilbraham 1817 Publisher London, Hamilton & Adams, and Co. Chester: Minshull and Hughes Pages 35, 48 160 & 167. Crop rotation had been practised on the remainder of the land. After 1955 the area of arable was increased with the introduction of a range of root and vegetable crops, while the milking herd was reduced to thirty-six. The ridge and furrows were ploughed out.
Identification: Farm and road names
The A533. This road bordering the farm follows the route of the Spann Smithy to Talk Turnpike Road, built about 1788 and improved in 1802.Spann Smithy and Talk Turnpike Available online at www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo3/43/1/contents/enacted Accessed 18 April 2025
Boults Green Farm, also known as Bolts Green Farm or Boults Green House.