Recent excavations in the area of the Dining Room at the old Hall have uncovered some spent 303 calibre cartridge cases. Thus far two have been unearthed, one in much better condition than the other, the picture below is of the two cartridges.
The spent cartridges point to the occupation during World War Two of the Army at Parlington. But who were they shooting at, are the two cartridges found so far those which were NOT collected after the firing took place! Will we ever know! But if we travel back some decades, the area beyond the house to the south side was a deer park and amongst the features of this place were the occasional shooting parties. At one such event in 1870 on the 18th June a gardener’s labourer, named Edward Cotton, while acting as a marker at a private rifle range at Parlington Park, near Leeds, was accidently shot by Lieutenant Colonel Gascoigne. The marker had left the rifle butt whilst firing was proceeding and without receiving any signal. The ball passed through his body and killed him on the spot. [An extract from the Leeds Mercury or the Leeds Intelligencier]
Whilst walking in the vicinity some years ago, beyond the line of the shooting range I came across a lead bullet which had hit something extremely hard like a brick surface, as it was flattened like a pancake. This was perhaps of the same type of ammunition that killed the unfortunate Edward Cotton.
The cartridges were found in the excavation of the ground in the location highlighted by the blue rectangle.