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.

The remains of Pilkingtons' No 9 Tank House represent a unique survival from the 19th century, an period of rapid development within the glass industry characterised by innovative but short-lived design. These remains are now recognised as the most complete known glass furnace structures of their era. Between 1991 and 1997, Lancaster University Archaeological Unit (now Oxford Archaeology North) conducted a programme of standing building survey, excavation, and oral and documentary research, targeted on the remains on the 'Hotties' site, in St Helens, Merseyside. The tank house was purpose-built by Pilkingtons in 1887 for the manufacture of window glass using the blown cylinder method; the cone house element of the complex still stands, and is an impressive Grade II Listed building. The investigations revealed the surviving base-level remains of a continuous tank furnace, with its regenerator chambers and gas supply flues still largely intact. This report on the excavation of the site includes chapters on the historical background to glass making at Pilkingtons, the phases of construction and redevelopment at the 'Hotties' site, working conditions and industrial relations, and a discussion of the role of Pilkingtons in the development of the British glass industry.

The origins of Bewsey Old Hall, in the Royal Forest of Burtonwood, probably lie in the late twelth or early thirteenth century, when it was held by the influential Butler family, barons of Warrington. Although much altered and diminished, Bewsey Old Hall still stands, beginning its existence as an aisled hall, surrounded by out-buildings. It is not clear when the site was moated, but a local watercourse was probably diverted at an early stage. Badly damaged by fire in the fourteenth century, the hall was substantially rebuilt, wholly or partially in stone. Parts of this complex of medieval buildings survived into the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Having been owned by the Butlers until 1586, ownership passed briefly to the Earl of Leicester, but it was soon sold on to the Ireland family, later passing to their successors, the Athertons. In the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, a fashionable new brick house was built on the site, incorporating or reusing elements of the medieval hall. It was much enhanced in the seventeenth century by the creation of a formal terraced garden furniture, although the terracing had been levelled by 1724. Bewsey's remaining medieval structures were demolished during the eighteenth century, when the hall was extended, and landscaping works filled in parts of the moat and enlarged others as water features. In 1863, a 'New Hall' was built, and Bewsey Old Hall was left in the hands of tenants, until, in considerable disrepair, it was acquired by Warrington Development Corporation in 1974. During the late 1970s and until the mid-1980s, the site's development was traced through examination of the building, extensive excavation, and documentary research. This volume paints a vivid picture of Bewsey's development, the trials and tribulations of its inhabitants, and their relationship with the world around them.