Archaeology at Bourne Hill

It’s long been known to be a historic site, dating back to the Iron Age. But prior to building new homes, archaeology at Bourne Hill has made some amazing finds.

The site of Bourne Hill

Bourne Hill is a 20 acre greenfield site adjacent to Fleetwood Road North. It’s the green field, right in the middle of this aerial view.

Bourne Hall was at the other side of the road. Look at these two maps side by side. Compare Greenwoods Map of North Fylde from 1818 on the right, to the modern Google map of 2023 on the left. (Thank you Thornton Cleveleys Past for the old map). We’ve marked what we believe to be the position of Bourne Hall on the Google Map and the landmarks around Rossall School – with some help from Paul Duxbury and TCP.

Archaeology at Bourne Hill

A team from Oxford Archaeology North (OAN) has been excavating the site at Bourne Hill prior to development of the site by Eccleston Homes. The developer has submitted a planning application with Wyre Council to build 158 houses, subject to certain conditions. One of which is this archaeological survey. OAN is one of the largest and longest-established independent archaeology and heritage practices in Europe. It operates from three permanent offices in Oxford, Lancaster and Cambridge, working across the UK.

During the survey, archaeology at Bourne Hill has excavated some significant finds including Iron Age bowls and Roman pottery. Like other Iron Age excavations elsewhere in the UK, they also found evidence of round houses and surrounding ditches. But the pottery makes it a more special find. It shows evidence of occupation from the Iron Age to Roman Britain.

When the findings have been assessed, a post-excavation assessment report will be produced by OAN.

In 2005, Bourne Hill was excavated by Wyre Archaeological Society. The remains of an Iron Age settlement were discovered. Bourne Hill is the highest point in the area and the settlement comprised roundhouses, defensive earthworks, a triangular entrance and a cobbled track. This encircled the settlement before heading towards Stanah where it met with a Roman road crossing Stanah Hill. Dating a fragment of a mixing bowl found on a roundhouse floor placed it in the 2nd century CE

More about Bourne Hall

Thank you once again to Mr Nick Moore and his fascinating History of Blackpool for most of this historical information. You can read and research it here. Also to members of Thornton Cleveleys Past (TCP) Facebook Group.

Nick Moore’s history explains – In 1066 the manor of Burn is recorded as having 2 ploughlands. 1345 gives the first written mention of an actual Hall in the manor. In 1346, Willian de Heaton ‘held in Thornton in the place which was called Burn one plough land in socage’. Just how much of the original hall was left before it was demolished no one knows. But most scholars believe that John Westby of Mowbreck Hall built the final Burn Hall in around 1470 just after he bought it. He died in 1512.

“In 1556 the Westbys rebuilt the hall, previously used as a hunting lodge and summer retreat, as their main home, having moved there from Mowbreck. It stayed in the Westby family until 1722 when John Westby died and passed it to his daughter Anne. She married Reverend John Bennison who apparently ripped out and ‘modernised’ most of the ancient parts of the building.

Arrival of the Fleetwood Family

Later it passed to the Fleetwood family. At one time the squire of Burn Hall was the biggest local landowner with around 360 acres.

The hall itself was enlarged in 1784 by Bold Hesketh Fleetwood. In 1786 it was rebuilt as two tenements for farmers and by 1850 the owner is shown as James Winnerah. This large farmhouse was described as being two storeys, constructed in brick (plastered over), a slate roof and ‘modern’ doors, windows and chimneys. The outbuildings were constructed in cobblestone with brick dressings. There was a Chapel room on the upper floor with a fine plaster ceiling and fireplace with coat of arms. The Chapel has an oak wainscot, richly decorated with small statues, shields and foliage.

Paul Duxbury clarified in TCP that “The hall and the farm are the same building. It was originally built as a hall in 1345 but changed ownership by marriage, and was down graded to a farm around 1722. Originally called Burn Hall like Burn Naze but the name changed as time passed.”

Bought by the Fleetwood Estate Company…

In 1904 the Fleetwood Estate Company bought the Thornton Estate – including Burn Hall – from the estate of Thomas Horrocks. He was a textile magnate from Preston. Horrocks also built a hunting lodge near to the middle of the estate, The Towers Cleveleys. This made the Fleetwood Estate Company’s holding a total of 2,000 acres of prime building land.

…passing to Thornton Cleveleys then Wyre Council

The manor was renamed Bourne Hall in 1926 although it had been known as that for over 20 years. The last tenant farmer, Mr RW Edmondson, left in January 1975. On 9 December 1950, a shock discovery was the skull of a whale in the grounds!

Burn Hall was also known locally as Hillhouse. Although the ICI plant was actually named after Hillhouse Farm which it replaced. The last remains of Burn Hall were demolished by ICI in 1978. The chapel ceiling was preserved and is now held at the Harris Museum in Preston.

The Land was acquired by Wyre Council by way of a Conveyance dated 7 December 1936 made between (1) Fleetwood Estate Limited (2) Wm Deacons Bank Limited and (3) Thornton Cleveleys Urban District Council. The Conveyance contained a number of covenants, in particular that “the property shall not be used or permitted to be used for any purpose whatsoever other than that of a cemetery burial ground or crematorium”.

On 27 March 2019, Wyre Council “considered the appropriation of land at Bourne Hill, Fleetwood (shown edged red on the plan) from its current purpose as a cemetery burial ground or crematorium, to planning purposes”. This was in order to “…enable the council to deliver a suitable site for development in line with the Local Plan…”

You can read the Appropriation of Land document at this link

Sold for Housing

In June 2022, Northern Land Agency completed the sale of Bourne Hill at Thornton. Wyre Council sold it to Eccleston Homes for an undisclosed sum.

According to The Business Desk website “The 20 acre greenfield site is located on the north eastern edge of Thornton Cleveleys. It has been allocated for the development of houses in the Wyre Local Plan. Eccleston Homes completed the acquisition on the strength of this allocation.”

Statement from Wyre Council

With big diggers and soil moving equipment back on the site, Wyre Council issued the following statement on Facebook on 22 September 2023:

“In response to further queries raised regarding the Bourne Hill site, whilst we await the final archaeology report, Lancashire County Council has confirmed that there will be no archaeological harm done by removing any finds and by any subsequent development. Any finds will be sent to Lancashire County Council’s museum service and the final report will outline their final resting place.

“We have been asked also about supporting infrastructure for the development. The developers have been asked to make a payment of £315,844 in a Section 106 (S106) agreement. Section 106 money is money that developers of larger sites pay to the council to reduce the impact of the development. Developers sign an S106 agreement as part of their planning permission and the money is used to improve the facilities, services and amenities at or close to the area where the building is taking place. Infrastructure providers such as Lancashire County Council and the NHS state what they wish for a developer to pay. In this instance, money has been requested to support the reconfiguration and extension of Thornton Medical Centre and Beechwood surgery, to contribute towards play equipment on the recreational land on Bourne Way and to improve highway safety.

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Archaeological Findings

“We’re aware of the public interest in the archaeological findings at the Bourne Hill site in Thornton. We would like to reassure the public that all work has proceeded in accordance with the standard process for managing archaeological sites in the planning process.

“Throughout this, the council has relied, as it always does, on the expertise of a specialist archaeology planning officer from Lancashire County Council’s Historic Environment Team. We’re working closely with Lancashire County Council to understand the significance of the archaeological finds and what happens to them.

“Oxford Archaeology North (OAN) have been commissioned by the developer to conduct an archaeological survey which is a condition we would ask for before granting planning permission in this instance. To date the site appears to be that of a late Iron Age through to Romano-British settlement, estimated to date between 200 BC – 200 AD with findings being unearthed that show evidence of round house dwellings, burials of cremated individuals, fragments of probable late Iron Age pottery and an unusual ‘quernstone,’ which was a hand mill for grinding flour, featuring two holes in the top rather than the usual one hole.

“Officers from the council have visited the site today to confirm the scale and nature of the works currently taking place. It has been confirmed that the archaeological works are now complete and the team from OAN will be leaving the site this week. OAN will then work on the post excavation assessment report of these excavated finds and the environmental samples from the site.

“The report, once finalised, will be made available to the public. It will provide valuable insight into these discoveries and will outline what will be preserved and how.”

Even More Ancient Remains

The earliest evidence of human habitation in the Fylde was a 13,500 year old Elk skeleton. Megaceros hibernicus was found in July/August 1970. ‘Horace’ was discovered by workmen in a pocket of peat The site was a garden opposite the Blackpool Sixth Form College at Highfurlong.

The animal was around three years old and weighed around 650lbs. It had been wounded 17 times by weapons. The bone tips of the hunting barbs were still embedded in its ribs and one of its leg bones. Find out more about the Poulton, Carleton or Highfurlong Elk here (depending on where you live!)

Along with the whale, it’s not the only ancient animal remain to have been found in the area. In May 2015 a hole was being dug for a water feature in a Thornton Cleveleys garden. These gardeners found the 92% complete remains of the skeleton of a European Timber Wolf – a sub species of the grey wolf.

It was estimated to have been as much as 20,000 years old. Complete with teeth and fangs it was buried 11 feet underground in the blue clay. Scientists believed it to have been around three years old when it died, and about the size of a Labrador dog. This skeleton was donated to Manchester Museum.