Site Event/Activity record ECH3696 - Halton Castle, Runcorn, Cheshire: Archaeological Watching Brief - Consolidation Works to the Curtain Wall, Stage 3 (G1358)

As part of a programme of consolidation works of the curtain wall at Halton Castle (see also ECH3697) a watching brief was undertaken in July 1995 during the re-erection and consolidation of a section (section 14) of the nineteenth century south curtain wall of the lower bailey at Halton Castle. This involved the excavation of internal deposits 5m from the inner face of the wall by machine to a maximum depth of 2.5m. The remnants of three walls were recorded suggesting that the outer bailey had a series of structures, of different dates, arranged within the curtain wall. It is possible that some stretches of the present curtain wall incorporate the walling of some of these structures, as was the case with wall 2. As some of the walls running east-west continued beyond the line of the present curtain wall it is possible that the 19th century wall replaces an earlier curtain wall which may have collpased down the steep slopes surrounding the castle. Masons' marks on walls 1 and 3 suggest a medieval date. (1)