RUNCORN

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DESCRIPTION

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Medieval town, thought to be on site of Anglo-Saxon burh. The burh was founded by Aethelflaed of Mercia circa 912, and it is possible that a monastery was founded there about the same time. It is probable that Ethelfleda's borough was destroyed at an early period by the Normans, for Runcorn was not a borough at Domesday, but was by then a mere dependancy of the Honour of Halton.

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(SJ 5082 8333) Medieval and Anglo Saxon Town(1)

'Runcorn - A Saxon burh, and afterwards a castle, removed to widen the river' (Included in a list of moated mounds or Burhs in Cheshire.) (2)

A fortress was erected at Runcorn in A.D.915 by Aethelflaeda, widow of Aethelred of Mercia and sister of Edward of Wessex.(3)

'Runcorn has not a vestige to show of Ethelfleda's borough... A rocky headland formerly projected here into the Mersey, narrowing its course to 400 yards at high water; a ditch with a circular curve cut off this headland from the shore. This ditch, from 12 to 16 feet wide, with an inner bank 6 or 7 feet high, could still be traced in the early part of the 19th century. Eighteen feet of the headland were cut off when the Duke of Bridgewater made his canal in 1773, and the ditch was obliterated when the railway bridge was built.

From the measurements which have been preserved, the area of this fort must have been very small, not exceeding 3 acres at the outside; and it is unlikely that it represented Ethelfleda's borough, as the church, which was of pre-Conquest foundation, stood outside its bounds, and we should certainly have expected to find it within. As the Norman earls of Chester established a ferry at Runcorn (see SJ 58 SW 14) in the 12th century, and as the castle at Runcorn is spoken of in a medieval document, it seems not impossible that there may have been a Norman Castle of this site; we constantly find such small fortifications placed to defend a ferry or ford.

It is probable that Ethelfleda's borough was destroyed at an early period by the Normans, for Runcorn was not a borough at Domesday, but was by then a mere dependancy of the Honour of Halton. (4)

Plan. (5)

Additional reference(s) (6-9)

When surveyed the site was occupied by bridge construction workings. (10)

The area has been extensively disturbed by industrial activity and no trace was found of a castle or earthworks. (11)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" map, Provisional Edition, 1905-1908

( 2) Royal Archaeological Institute The archaeological journal

46 - 1889 Page(s)202

( 3) Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire

102 - 1950 Page(s)63

( 4) General reference

Armitage E S, Early Norman Castles, 1912, p 38-39

( 4a) General reference

Fowler P, The History of Runcorn, (plan)

( 4b) General reference

Hanshall J H, The History of Cheshire, 1917, p 418, plan

( 4c) General reference

Beaumont, The History of Halton, plan

( 5) General reference

Hanshall J H, The History of the Palitanate County of Cheshire, 1817, p 418

( 6) General reference

Transactions of the Runcorn Historical Society, 1887, vol 6, p 97

( 7) Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire

94 - 1942 Page(s)23

( 8) General reference

English Historical Review, 1942, vol 57, p 86

( 9) General reference

Beaumont W, The History of Halton, 1873

(10) Field Investigators Comments

Field Investigator, FDC, 01-JUL-1959

(11) Field Investigators Comments

Field Investigator, JHW, 29-JAN-1964

(12) by David Knowles and R Neville Hadcock 1971 Medieval religious houses in England and Wales

Page(s)481

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