Beeston Castle, Cheshire Excavations by Laurence Keen & Peter Hough, 1968-85

These excavations, the first archaeological examination of the medieval fortress of Beeston Castle, showed conclusively that the site has been used since prehistory. Divided into two parts, the report first describes the site's occupation from the Mesolithic period to the thirteenth century. Discussions of the Late Bronze Age metalworking and pre-Iron Age crop-processing are supplemented by detailed descriptions of the flint, pottery and jewellery. The construction of the medieval castle in the fourteenth century opens the second part of the report, with a discussion of the historical and documentary background and the architectural evidence, supplemented with extensive discussions of the coins, pottery and glass. From the mid-fourteenth century the castle fell into disuse and was negelected until the Civil War, when it changed hands twice between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. The subsequent demolition of the castle sealed a large group of Civil War finds, among them fragments of a jack of plate armour, a collection of spurs, and a major group of clay pipes. Later in the seventeenth century the Outer Gateway was reoccupied for a short period. Many traces were recorded of the nineteenth-century fair held annually on the hilltop.