Monument record 512/0/0 - Thelwall Burh

The building of a burh at Thelwall in the reign of Edward the Elder is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and can be dated to AD 918 (1). Edward of Mercia took a number of precautionary measures against the Norse settlers in Lancashire - he decided to strength the Mersey line by blocking the two north-south routes across the valley - the first by the road focus at Manchester, where the Roman fort was refurbished, and the second by blocking the Roman road at Warrington, with a fort at Thelwall. Burh was primarily a fort, not a town, so site probably quite small and less than nine acres in area.Three possible locations of burh - 1) under present village, 2) Victoria Park area of central Warrington, 3) promontory between two valleys lying to the east of village. No definite location (2). Suggestion that burh may heve been located in one of the loops of the River Mersey named as "detached parts of Thelwall" on OS maps. Most strategic position would have been the loop on which the ancient ford crossed the Mersey in Latchford. However no archaeological evidence for the site has been detected either in Thelwall or Latchford (4).

<1> Angus W S, 1938, The English Historical Review, 53/199 (Book). SCH3120.

<2> Grealey S, 1976, The Archaeology of Warrington's Past, /36 & 39 + 83 (Book). SCH3046.

<3> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, 1/291 Thacker A 1987 (Book). SCH3556.

<4> Carter G A, 1989, A History of Latchford from the Bronze Age to the 20th C, /12-14 (Book). SCH3826.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ68NE6 (Index). SCH2487.

<6> Longley D, 1977-1978, Longley Archive, /no.273 (Paper Archive). SCH2005.