ABC Wednesday: Newton Hall

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is N for "Newton Hall". Newton Hall is on the north side of Hyde, around 2 miles south of Ashton.

It is a very timely occasion to show a photo of this medieval hall, as this week sees the start of a major archaeological dig around the grounds of the hall, where members of the public have been invited to take part.

The photograph was taken yesterday and shows work being undertaken to uncover the foundations of a later extension to the original hall.

The hall, built around 1380, had been extended several times and additional buildings were added around the site. It eventually became used as a barn for the farm that occupied part of the site. When the farm buildings were being demolished in the 1960s, to make way for industrial buildings, the contractor saw the ancient cruck-framed construction and, realising it was an important ancient building, stopped demolition immediately. The other farm buildings were later demolished but the original medieval hall was preserved and restored.

You can see a photo of the inside of the hall on this post a year ago, when Newton Hall was also my "N" contribution.

Even on the first day of the dig, interesting finds were being uncovered. If you are interested in taking part in the dig, or just in finding out more about the event, please see the Tameside History Forum website.

See Google Street View of this location.

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"Newton Hall" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "N" posts from around the world please follow this link.

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