Going back to this post of March 2013..... I believe it was Rudebox who was more recently enquiring about the grave of a horse in Tranmere. This is the extract which would possibly give a near date, due to a coin found in the same plot. Just in case it was missed
...........................
Singular Equine Interment on Holt Hill, Tranmere.
We are indebted to Mr. W. Lownsborough, surveyor, of
Tranmere, for the subjoined notice.
A Mr. Getley lately purchased a piece of land, on the top
of Holt Hill, and nearly opposite the Nunnery, from the
trustees of W, W. Perry, Esq. This plot, about twenty years
ago, was an unenclosed common, with furze bushes growing
upon it, and had never been disturbed within the memory of
man. However, in digging the foundations of some houses,
the workmen came upon three large slabs of stone, about two
h2
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
100
feet below the surface ; these formed the covering of a grave,
carefully hewn in the solid rock, about 8 feet long, 4 feet
broad, and 3 feet deep, and which was found to contain the
bones of a horse, accompanied by a quantity of dry material
like tinder. Upon searching among the last, a copper coin
was found, almost defaced by wear and rust, but which proves
to be a halfpenny of William and Mary. There was likewise
disclosed the handle of a sword, the heft of which is of bone,
carved in a reticulated manner, whilst the strig and rivets are
of iron.
I think that I have somewhere read, that William III, on
his journey to or from Ireland, stayed at the Old Hall,
Tranmere,* and halted on this hill ; if so, I think it very
probable that the steed must have been a favourite of one of
his troopers, and died either from the effect of recent wounds
in Ireland, or sudden illness after crossing the channel —
possibly a combination of both. The deposition of the coin
is, to my mind, an excellent mode of handing down the date
of the animal's death to future generations.