Lathom House, Near Ormskirk, West Lancashire

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a grant of £49,900 to Lathom Park Trust to further investigate the archaeological potential of the site of the former Lathom House, near Ormskirk, in West Lancashire, which was destroyed in the Civil War sieges of 1644-45. The award allowed the Trust to carry on with its 'Historic Lathom' programme of uncovering history in Lathom.

The project provided new information about the nature and development of nationally important medieval and post-medieval structures contained below the lawns and paddocks at Lathom House. We opened up the investigations to as wide a segment of the local community as possible in order to highlight the wealth of archaeological remains in Lathom Parish.

The project started in May 2009 with a geophysical and ground probing radar survey. This was followed by trial trenching in the pleasure garden in the summer. Our investigation closed on the 31st of December 2011.

The technical results have been compiled into an evaluation report by Oxford Archaeology North which is due for release early in 2012. Summary results will be published in our 3rd Lathom Booklet. In the meantime a glimpse of the work undertaken by the Trust and our volunteers can be seen in these web pages.

Explaining the importance of the award, Sara Hilton, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, North West, said, "We are passionate about giving everyone the chance to explore their past and digging into the history of Lathom Park is a great example of what can be done. The site has witnessed a wealth of historic events and today's news brings an exciting chance for the local community to get involved in uncovering more".