Manchester Town Defences

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Old Man Castle; Hanging Ditch

In the civil parish of Manchester.
In the historic county of Lancashire (Modern Authority of Manchester, 1974 county of Greater Manchester).

Turner writes 'Roman fort was re-used in early C10', presumably as a saxon urban burh. Part of fort's walls is still visible. The castle and medieval town appear to have been 750m further north at a naturally stronger point. Bond puts the Roman and Saxon defences in his 'of no post-Conquest significance' list. I'm not convinced that the Roman fort was reused and the possible saxon and probably medieval town defences were the Hanging Ditch, although this did not include all of the later medieval town.

This site has been described as a;
Urban Defence.
The confidence that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Possible.
Masonry footings remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SJ83199761

Modern Map from

Good for landscape form and features

Modern Map from

Good for general location

Air Photo from

1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape number; 76731

Books

Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p269
Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences', in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
Morris, Michael, 1983, The Archaeology of Greater Manchester Vol1: Medieval Manchester (Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit)
Bryant, Stewart, 1982, Roman Manchester
Bullock, J.D., 1974, 'The problem of post-Roman Manchester' in Jones, G.D.B. (ed), Roman Manchester (Manchester Excavation Committee)
Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London)

Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)

Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p264

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This record last updated on Friday, April 6, 2007

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