Watching Brief

Date June 2013 - July 2013

Event ID 1013369

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1013369

NJ 0065 2192 A programme of work was carried out in June and July 2013 to prepare for works to conserve and consolidate the castle. A watching brief was undertaken to supervise an area of stripping for a contractors compound, access track and borrow pit. All excavations were outwith the scheduled area, but close to the castle. No finds or features of archaeological significance were recorded. There was evidence of fairly recent rough levelling.

An electricity pole was moved from the scheduled area to a site further from the castle, to improve the visual setting, and an underground cable laid across the field to the compound area. The only feature noted was a modern (plastic) field drain. It is thought that extensive ploughing has damaged or removed much of the archaeology in this area.

Areas of rubble were removed from the interior of the castle, with care taken to avoid any kind of ground-breaking in order to preserve the topsoil and any features.

A resistivity survey of the interior of the castle and selected external areas was undertaken by OJT Heritage on 2 August 2013. This found that the area was heavily disturbed with various areas of sub-surface rubble and clearance. There was, however, some indication of groundworks immediately outside the castle entrance, which were possibly associated

with its construction, and also possible foundations for a leanto type building along the inside SE wall.

A watching brief was undertaken, 7–10 August 2013, during the removal of turf within the castle and through the entrance to the compound area. No finds or features of archaeological significance were recorded, and the topsoil was left in place to protect underlying remains.

A photographic survey was undertaken to update and complement the previous work by FAS Heritage before consolidation works. In addition, interactive panoramas and photosynths were produced in order to aid navigation of these records.

Consolidation works of the wall heads then began in March 2014. In this process the turf and loose soil was removed from a short section of wall head, the underlying stonework recorded, and the wall capped with lime mortar. It was noted that soil had often worked its way down through the rubble core of the wall.

Several features, which had previously been hidden by foliage, became apparent including window reveals, an intramural passage and a garderobe. To date, these features have all been revealed on the W side of the castle and confirm that there were internal buildings set against the walls in this area which were at least two-storeys high. It also confirms that the walls were significantly higher during the use of the castle and that many features have been entirely lost.

The removal of three banked areas of rubble pressing against the external walls was monitored, 3–7 April 2014. Areas 1 and 3 lie to the immediate N and S of the entrance, respectively. Area 2 forms the tumbled S corner of the castle.

In Area 1 a mound 1m high was removed from outside the castle wall. This was found to consist of mostly rounded stones with a few small pieces of mortar, daub and animal bone. One fragment of dressed sandstone was recorded, a door jamb with typical angled facing.

In Area 2 turf, topsoil and loose stones were removed by hand to reveal the base of a wall running slightly off of the alignment of the surviving wall. The external facing of this wall was clearly visible, and abutting the internal face was a dump of mortar in situ. The interior rubble was largely floating

within loamy soil and this was not excavated below the level of the surviving facings. Several finds were recovered from the topsoil including hand made nails and a small piece of slag. There were also various animal bones, many of which showed clear butchery marks.

Area 3 was another small mound of rubble against the external wall just to the SE of the entrance. It consisted of a shallow topsoil 0.4m deep at its maximum, with few rounded stones of c40–100mm in diameter. The area was carefully lowered using a back-acting arm of a JCB under supervision,

but subsoil was not reached and no further work was undertaken in this area.

Archive: HAS. Report: Highland HER

Funder: Castle Roy Trust

Lynne McKeggie - Highland Archaeology Services

(Source: DES)