Walking home across the Oak Tree meadow below Hartford, after going fishing with my uncle Jack Hall, he paused below Marshall's Wood and said: 'Come with me up to the head of the wood, I've got something to show you.'

When we reached the top of the slope, where the wood joined the field known as the campus, we stood and looked at the dividing fence.

He pointed to a post and asked what it was made of.

I was a bit nonplussed but said oak.

He asked what the next post was made of and I said oak again.

He told me to have another look, and when I looked closer there was a slight difference.

My uncle told me it was made from whalebone. He said that some years before, while the field was being ploughed, the plough repeatedly struck obstacles just below the surface. Several pieces were uncovered and ripped out and used as posts.

As you stand on the site and look over to Davenham, you realise how wide the Weaver must have been in those late Triassic days.

Evidence of the prehistoric terraces left can be seen along the course of the Weaver, which include Castle Hill, Barnton Hill and can even be seen in Northwich itself.

J HORTON

Spencer Street,

Northwich.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.