At a meeting of the Committee in Manchester on April 23rd, it was resolved to raise additional troops for the siege at Lathom, and to assess a weekly amount of £4,627/6/4 on the whole county, except Lonsdale Hundred and Garstang Parish, which were already being taxed to maintain the siege of Greenhalgh Castle.[133] It is improbable, however, that these resolutions were carried into effect, for the attack showed no more vigour than before; and it had little prospect of success long before the approach of Prince Rupert effected a complete change in the position of affairs. It was not till towards the end of May that news came of Rupert's march, and Colonel Rigby again sent a summons to Lathom to surrender. This was of course refused; and the same day a messenger arrived from the Earl of Derby with news of the Prince's approach. This was, as a matter of fact, only two days before Rupert crossed the Mersey, and as soon as this was ascertained, the Parliamentarian troops marched away from Lathom with all haste. (May 27.) The royalists claimed that the besiegers had lost 500 men during the siege.[134] NOTE ON THE SITE OF LATHOM HOUSE. Almost incredible as it seems, not only has old Lathom House completely disappeared but it is impossible to decide with any certainty where it stood. The present house is not large and was evidently all planned at the time it was built, which was early in the eighteenth century. It is said that it stands on a part of the former site, and certain parts of it, of darker stone than the rest, are supposed to have come from the former building; moreover a hundred yards or so before the house (which faces south) and drawn round it for about three hundred yards is a shallow depression which is said to be the old moat. This has been filled in at the back of the present house to make a garden. Excavations near the present site are said to have discovered human remains. All this may sound conclusive, but it is impossible to reconcile the surroundings of the present house with the exact description given by Seacome. In spite of his usual inaccuracy in recording events it seems impossible that such a description as he gives, evidently that of an eye witness, can be incorrect except perhaps in one or two details. His exact words may be quoted:--