Site Event/Activity record ECH3697 - Halton Castle, Runcorn, Cheshire. Consolidation Works. Archaeological Watching Briefs to February 28 1995 (G1320)

As part of a programme of consolidation works to the nineteenth century curtain wall at Halton Castle (see also ECH3698), three test pits and the rebuilding and consolidation of a section of the curtain wall (section 15) on the south side of the lower bailey, were monitored and recorded. The test pits were excavated in November 1994 to a maximum depth of 0.8m. Test pits 1 and 2 were located within the lower bailey and measured approximately 1m square. Test pit 3 was located at the base of the external face of the curtain wall and was approximately 0.5m square. The deposits encountered in trial pits 1 and 2 comprised a layer of dark brown garden soil, 0.5m deep, and containing occasional post medieval and modern pottery sherds. This layer sealed a deposit of red sandstone rubble of unknown depth; this also contained several dressed sandstone blocks. Trial pit 3 was excavated to a depth of 0.4m and contained a mixed dark brown soil overlying a horizon of sandstone rubble at a depth of 0.3m, again this contained some large, possibly dressed sandstone blocks. These appear to be the result of dumping and possibly represent the makeup and hardcore for the present path around the castle. The rebuilding and consolidation of section 15 of the curtain wall required the excavation of internal deposits extending 5m from the wall and to a maximum depth of 2.5m. This work was undertaken in February 1995. The south face of a section of walling running at right angles to the curtain wall was revealed. It extended for over 2.2m into interior of the lower bailey and was 1.8m high, comprising three ashlar courses of large, sandstone blocks, dressed with diagonal tooling, and sitting on a foundation plinth of roughly dressed sandstone. Five blocks bore a mason's mark consisting of a cross with an extended line from one arm, these indicate a medieval date. A similar mason mark appears on the eastern internal splay of the north window which can be dated to the late fourteenth of fifteenth centuries. The curtain wall did not abut the eastern end of the ashlar wall and the fact that the wall had been neatly and squarely dressed implies that it originally ended at this point. The wall may indicate the existance of internal buildings/towers within lower bailey during the medieval period. (1)