Archeologists launch major historic excavation near Southport

An archeological dig is set to take place right on Southport’s doorstep.

Dubbed ‘Project Valhalla’ the fascinating dig hopes to excavate part of a medieval palace fortress at Lathom, home of Sir Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby and his wife Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII.

Stanley is immortalised as one of the heroes in Shakespeare’s Richard IIIas ‘The King Slayer’, as well as crowning Henry Tudor king at the battle of Bosworth in 1485.

In addition to its Tudor links, Lathom was also the site of one of the largest and longest sieges of the English Civil War

This new structure, known as Lathom House and built in 1496, was possibly one of the largest castles in England. It had nine towers and was surrounded by a wall two yards thick and a moat eight yards wide.However, nothing survives of this massive structure as a result of the English Civil War sieges of 1644-45.