ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



the command is of course complete. A modern residence (A) has been built 

 upon a part of the plateau on the top of the hill, and its grounds occupy the 

 slopes. 



The earthworks now remaining serve to show the plan of the former 

 mount and court castle upon the triangular plateau on top of the hill ; it 

 covered an area of about an acre. They are now considerably mutilated, and 

 the mount was completely demolished when the present house was built. Very 

 fortunately, however, a plan of the remains as they existed in the year 1823 

 was carefully prepared from actual survey by the late Mr. H. H. Fishwick, 

 and is available. The bailey of the castle (B) faced to the south. Its shape 

 was an irregular square. It had an interior measurement of 120 ft. east 

 and west, and 100 ft. north and south, and an area of rather over half an 

 acre. Being on the top of the hill, it was much higher than any ground 

 near. The earthen rampart which formerly surrounded it is still intact 

 upon its east and west, and for some distance along its south sides ; its height 

 is now from 6 ft. to 7 ft. There are traces of an outer fosse on its 

 west and south sides only ; probably the very steep slopes of the hill were 

 sufficient protection elsewhere. The plan made in 1823 shows a second 

 fosse, described as 8 ft. deep, at the foot of the hill on the south and south- 

 east, where the natural defence was less strong (v. HHHH on plan); this 

 also probably guarded the ancient entrance (KKK) at the south-east corner 

 towards the old highway. The mount (A), which was destroyed when the 

 present house was built, is shown on the above-named plan of 1823. It 

 stood at the north end of the hill at the apex of the triangular platform, and 

 projected into it as far as the dotted lines on plan opposite. It was circular, 

 as usual, with a diameter at its base of about 100 ft. Its top was flat, and 

 had an area described as measuring 1 7 perches, which was 8 ft. high above 

 the level of the bailey. No fosses around the mount are now visible, 

 nor are any shown in Mr. Fishwick's plan. Probably the steep hillsides to 

 the north, west, and east were ample protection, and a formerly existing fosse 

 between the mount and bailey has been filled up. 



The site is still known as the Castle Hill. It has long borne this 

 name, for in a lease to the tenant in the year 1626 the house upon it is 

 called ' Castle Hill,' and is further described as the ' reputed scite of a castle 

 standing there but now clean defaced.' In an inquisition taken in 16 10, 

 the same house and its appurtenances are mentioned, and are described as 

 covering 2J acres, which coincides with the measurement of the present 

 residential property. This mount and court castle was an important fortalice 

 in early Norman, and perhaps even in pre-Conquest, days. Like many others 

 in the county its palisaded earthworks seem never to have been replaced by 

 walls of masonry, and it was abandoned certainly as early as the first years of 

 the thirteenth century." 



Warrington. — About 100 yards to the north-east of the parish 

 church of St. Elphin, where the Clergy Orphan Schools now stand, there 

 was formerly a mount and court castle of considerable size and of historical 

 importance. Unfortunately, however, owing to successive building operations 



" Baines, Lanct. (ed. 1868), i, pp. 482-3, 504.; Fishwick, 'Castles of Lanes, and Ches.' in Trans. 

 Antiq. Lanes, and Ches. Soc. xix ; Fishwick, 'Rochdale Manor Inquisition, a.d. 16 10,' in Trans. Rochdale 

 Lit. andScien. Soc. 1903 ; Ord. Surv. i-in. 85/86, old 88 SW.; 6-in. 88 NE.; 25-in. 88, 4. 



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