Blackrod Castle Croft (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Blackrod.
In the historic county of Lancashire.
Modern Authority of Bolton.
1974 county of Greater Manchester.
Medieval County of Lancashire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SD61921067
Latitude 53.59122° Longitude -2.57676°

Blackrod Castle Croft has been described as a probable Timber Castle.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Possible Medieval castle mound, now mostly destroyed by housing development. Earthworks consisted of an elongated oval mound 29m by 16m at the top, and 2.3m high above a broad terrace way which flanks the north east side. Excavations in 1952 discovered a possible robbed out building and finds including Medieval coins and pottery and post-Medieval pottery. Later prehistoric finds including flint implements were also recorded. (PastScape)

Castle Croft at Blackrod, near Wigan, which dates from the 17th century (VCH 1908), is traditionally the site of a castle (VCH 1911). The entrance to it, and the ditch are said to have been "plainly discernible" pre-1846. A 'crown' and a large key are among items found on the site (Hampson). (VCH).
Earthworks in Castle Croft now consist of an elongated oval mound 29.0m by 16.0m at the top, and 2.3m high above a broad terrace way which flanks the north east side. This merges at the north end with a narrower terrace. In their present form, the works do not represent an orthodox complex, but some form of castle mound seems likely (F1 JHO 12-AUG-52).
Castle Croft consists of a double mound forming a figure 8, lying approximately north west to south east. A small excavation was made on the top of the north west mound in 1952 within the area of foundation trenches for a new bungalow. No structural remains were found although disturbance suggests the possibility that a building had been removed. Two 15th century coins, 16th to 19th or 20th century pottery, a loomweight fragment and a flint flake, scraper and heat cracked core of the Mesolithic to Bronze Age period were recovered. Further trenching located the surrounding ditch of the castle, with 14th to 15th century pottery on the rim, its position marked by a platform which interrupted the slope of the mound on the north side. All finds now in Manchester Museum, Accn No 0 8843.
The excavation suggests that Castle Croft was a defensive site in the middle ages (Willett).
The major part of this site has now been destroyed by housing development (F2 ISS 12-NOV-75). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 43478.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Books
- Grimsditch, Brian, Nevell, Michael and Nevell, Richard, 2012, Buckton Castle and the Castles of the North West England (University of Salford Archaeological Monograph 2) p. 105
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles and Tower Houses of Lancashire and Cheshire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 22
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 244
  Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), 1911, VCH Lancashire Vol. 5 p. 299 online transcription
  Gardner, W., 1908, 'Ancient Earthworks:- Lancashire South of the Sands' in Farrer, William and Brownbill, J. (eds), VCH Lancashire Vol. 2 p. 553 (listed as Class X earthwork) online copy
  Hampson, T., 1882, History of Blackrod p. 20
Periodical Articles
- Willett, F., 1952-3, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol. 63 p. 201-6
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Constable, Christopher, 2003, Aspects of the archaeology of the castle in the north of England C 1066-1216 (Doctoral thesis, Durham University) Available at Durham E-Theses Online

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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