| It must have been in these feudal times just surveyed
that the old manor house had had additions made to it, and had become in Tudor
days, one of the twelve baronial castles of Lancashire. It stood on the higher
land overlooking what is now known as Castlecroft, and the Irwell Valley. This
higher land formerly extended further west than now, as some portions were cut
away to form the railway and goods yard. Though the ancient structure seems to
have totally vanished, valuable discoveries in 1846 led to its foundations being
unearthed, and coins of the times of the early Edwards, Henry VIII., Elizabeth
and the Stuarts have been found. Workmen engaged in sewering eighty years ago
came upon what were considered to be the foundation walls of the Keep. They were
nearly two feet thick, and were buttressed every few feet. The outer walls
represented a quadrangle, about 113 ft by 110 ft. The inner walls were very
strong; being more than six feet in thickness. The building was a parallelogram
in shape, measuring externally 82 ft by 76 ft., and internally, 69 ft by 63 ft.
The appearance of the ruins suggested that a space of 20 feet existed between
the outer face of the keep and the inside of the outer boundary wall. |