A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



still well seen to the north-west of the mount, where its bottom is 1 2 ft. 

 below the highest part of the latter. Proceeding northward round the 

 outside of the bailey, the ditch is now some 6 ft. below the interior area 

 of the former. Its course can be distinctly traced curving round to the 

 east and then south-east, well outside the angle and line of the modern fence. 

 About I GO ft. north-east of the buildings within the area, it apparently turns 

 acutely south-west through the gardens, and runs between St, Elphin's Well 

 and the school buildings to the south-east side of the former mount in the 

 direction of the church. Signs of the ditch which separated the mount from 

 the bailey can still be seen. The bailey evidently had considerable ramparts 

 around it as late as 1819, when Ormerod mentioned the existence of ' earth- 

 works ' near the circular mount. Warrington was by far the largest of the 

 mount and court castles in the county, its total area being nearly three acres. 



The spade has been so repeatedly at work upon the site that the original 

 mount has now well-nigh disappeared. First, excavation was made in the 

 'Mote Hill,' to discover its nature, in 1832; secondly, a considerable portion 

 was removed and thrown into the ditches when the Clergy Orphan Schools 

 were erected in 1841 ; thirdly, an enlargement of these buildings in 185 1 

 resulted in the final destruction of the whole of the mount with the excep- 

 tion of the small portion previously described. These various operations 

 resulted in interesting discoveries both of relics and of the nature of the 

 interior of the mount. As far as can be gathered from the extant accounts 

 of the excavations, the accompanying diagram would roughly represent a 

 section of the artificial hill. 



(FF) represents the original ground level. Above this was heaped sand and 

 earth in stratified layers (E), to the height of about 6 ft. On the top of the 

 hillock so formed there was a circular depression (D) about one foot deep in 

 the centre. This hollow was filled with a mass of carbonized vegetable 

 remains — reeds, straw, and brushwood ; on the top of and mixed with this 

 were bones and decayed animal refuse, which gave off a very offensive smell ; 

 the bones were all broken and were those of oxen, sheep, deer, boar, geese, 

 &c., such as would be thrown upon the floor of the dwelling in uncivilized 

 days after every meal. At one point a pit of conical form was brought to 

 light, which was half-full of white wood ashes and calcined bones as if from 

 a fire ; pieces of coal were also discovered in the earliest excavation. Some 

 distance from the fireplace a well was found dug down into the original and 

 undisturbed ground, and lined with oaken staves laid horizontally against 

 four stout corner posts ; this well had been filled up with earth at a later 

 date, but water rose within it when opened. Several massive beams of 

 timber and a few squared stones were also dug out of the mount, but their 

 original position is not recorded. In the stratum of animal and vegetable 

 refuse at the bottom of the well, in the fire cavity and mixed with the soil 

 thrown out, many interesting articles used in former days were discovered. 

 These included (i) many fragments of pottery pronounced by Mr. Akerman 

 at the time to be early mediaeval ; (2) half a horseshoe curiously vandyked 

 on its outer edge ; (3) a curved knife-blade, said to be Saxon ; (4) part of a 

 small stone quern ; (5) a large iron nail and another smaller ; (6) a slender 

 bronze fibula, described as Saxon ; (7) a few portions of Roman amphorae 

 (probably from the site of the Roman station a mile away) ; (8) an earthen- 



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