The present Cottam Hall was a replacement for an older hall which was probably pulled down in the 1860’s. Members of Wyre Archaeology have researched the site over many years and now, with access to GPR data, it was decided to investigate if any of the original building could be discovered. From comparing the old and new maps of the area any remains would be at the edge of the study area.
On Sunday, 18th May, 2025 a small group of members gathered to investigate the site.
The GPR survey produced seven fixed points around the site and, from four of these, the trench position could be calculated. One of the “fixed” points was a post on a trampoline but, in the time between the survey and the dig, the trampoline had been removed – so we were down to three points. This problem was further compounded by transferring the distances on a 2D plot onto 3D reality with a pizza oven and blackcurrant bush in the way of the tape. Alice Roberts never had this problem.
Amazingly, after all the hot weather, the ground wasn’t too hard. Quickly, within 15-20 cm of the surface, we came across slate slabs – shown above. The slate very easily fragmented laterally (as you would expect slate to do) but revealed a fine speckled, quartz-like appearance on the open face. There is something called mica slate and it might be this that we uncovered.
The GPR implied, if there was any boundary to the Old Hall, that we needed to go deeper. The slate was removed and a very large stone revealed.
Rubble composed of brick, stone and general debris surrounded the stone. Once revealed various theories appeared. Was it a pedestal? Was it part of the original hall? Was it too substantial to be part of the foundations of the Old Hall?
After much effort the stone was rocked into an upright position so that the underlying surface could be revealed.
The above image demonstrates advanced archaeological techniques for moving large stones out of the way. There was great excitement when the crowbar was pushed into the soil and a hollow sound was heard. After several minutes digging we came across a brick that, when hit, produced the sound. No foundations – only rubble. At this stage we were 0.75 m down and, according to the GPR, the feature we were looking for should have disappeared. We called it a day.
Many thanks to Lynn, Maureen, Nic, Paula, Michael and Dawn for their efforts on a very hot day. Helen had left earlier – dog sitting.
We learned later that several similar stones had appeared around the area so, probably when the Old Hall was pulled down, a number of these stones were reused.