THIS week I am continuing my list of the 12 ancient monuments in our borough, as identified by Historic England (formerly English Heritage).

NEWTON’S CASTLE HILL MOTTE AND BAILEY BARROW: A motte and bailey castle is a fortification with a wooden or stone keep on raised earthwork with an enclosed courtyard surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Our wooden one was built by the Normans to guard the highway from the ford across the Mersey at Warrington to Scotland. The motte was constructed upon an earlier, possibly prehistoric, burial site.

It was built on a commanding site at the north-east corner of an elevated platform formed by the deep cut valley of the River Dene, latterly dammed to form Newton Lake. The monument includes a slightly oval mound of sandy earth raised on largely bare sandstone bedrock.

There are faint traces of an encircling ditch on the southwest side. All traces of the associated bailey have been obscured by massive earthmoving operations undertaken during construction of the nearby M6 motorway.

Limited excavation of the motte was undertaken in 1843. Around 3m from the centre of the motte an arched roof made of pressed clay was found. In this chamber lay wood ash and burned bone. Newton was the seat of a medieval barony, while documentary evidence from the 15th century refers to Castle Hill Field.

RAINFORD MOSSBOROUGH HALL MOATED SITE: The monument includes an island surrounded on three sides by a predominantly dry moat 3m deep. It is now occupied by Mossborough Hall. The moat’s southwest arm measures some 14m wide and is crossed by a causeway at its mid-point. The northwest arm has been infilled. The hall was owned by the de Lathom family from the late 13th to late 17th centuries. It was ransacked by troops during the reign of Elizabeth I. In the early 18th century it was owned by the Molyneux family and in 1765 it was bought by the Earl of Derby who demolished the house.

The present building dates from the 1850s. The hall is a Grade II listed building but this and parts of the moat are excluded from the scheduling of ancient monument.

RAINHILL FARM AND FISH PONDS: The monument is the moated site of Rainhill Hall to the south east of which lies an extensive system of fish ponds and connecting channels. It is divided into two areas and includes a slightly raised island that was originally surrounded by a waterlogged moat. Standing on the island are the remains of the early 16th century-17th century north and west wings of the hall which contain earlier works including one of the finest late medieval roofs in the country.

The moat has been partially infilled but still survives.

To the southeast in woodland known as ‘The Rough’ is an extensive complex of 12 largely waterlogged and interconnected fish ponds. Rainhill Hall was owned by the Lancaster family for 500 years. The earliest documentary reference to a house on the site was in 1323 when Henry de Parr was arrested for breaking into the hall.