All Saints Church and several historic farmhouses offer different ways to explore Marthall’s architectural history, while Pedley Brook Valley and Spring Wood provide a focus on the landscape. There is also a longer walking route that starts in Marthall and leads to Peover Hall. This gives you two different time perspectives for planning your trip: you can compare building periods and façades, while the route, with more than four hours of walking, takes up a separate block of time for an outing.
Church history in two building phases
All Saints Church was completed in 1841 on land donated by Wilbraham Egerton. A new chancel and a vestry were added in 1886; the Egerton family financed most of the extension. The dates therefore mark the church’s completion and its later expansion. The chancel is the area around the altar, while the vestry is an adjoining room used to prepare for services. The different Egerton connections can also be distinguished: Wilbraham Egerton donated the land, and the family later financed most of the extension.
Farmhouses and façade details
The three farmhouses differ in their dates and architectural features. Kell Green Hall Farmhouse is a Grade II-listed farmhouse dating from the early 18th century. Fir Tree Farmhouse dates from the late 17th or early 18th century. It has red brickwork in Flemish bond, a slate roof, three storeys and a three-bay entrance front with a central gabled porch. Brook Farmhouse also has three storeys and a slate roof, but is built of red brick in English garden wall bond. Its entrance front has two bays; a central gabled porch with a round-headed arch is set on the ground floor.
In Flemish bond, stretcher and header bricks alternate in the brickwork pattern. Façade bays describe its vertical divisions: Fir Tree Farmhouse has three, while Brook Farmhouse has two. This offers a concrete comparison of the entrance fronts; Brook Farmhouse also has a round-headed arch in its ground-floor porch. Kell Green Hall Farmhouse adds its own date and Grade II listing to this overview of architectural forms.
Wayfinding and landscape
A milestone gives the distances as seven miles to Macclesfield and four miles to Knutsford. This adds a different perspective to the architectural history through historic wayfinding: the stone lists two destinations and their distances in miles.
The Pedley Brook Valley LWS includes woodland, grassland and wetland vegetation on both sides of Pedley Brook. Spring Wood is a large area of ancient woodland on the west bank of Marthall Brook; it was last surveyed in 2000. The landscape features differ both in their vegetation and in the watercourse they are associated with: the habitats mentioned lie on either side of Pedley Brook, while Spring Wood is on Marthall Brook. The year 2000 refers to Spring Wood’s most recent survey, not the age of the woodland.
A longer walking route from Marthall
The walking route from Sandle Bridge Lane to Peover Hall starts in Marthall and is rated easy. It is listed as 9.85 miles long, with a walking time of 4 hours and 35 minutes, 72 feet of ascent and 75 feet of descent. At this duration, the route is a multi-hour outing and its own block of time, not just a short addition between other activities. The duration and elevation figures give you concrete details to help with planning; the route’s difficulty rating is also provided. Route details may change, so check them before setting out.
Discover more destinations: Pulford, Nantwich, Weaverham, Sandbach, Lower Whitley, Beeston, Kelsall, Christleton
For the wider travel overview: Cheshire.
