Watching Brief

Date May 1997

Event ID 1028072

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1028072

Monitoring of excavation of floodlight cable trenches along S and E of Castle and Barmkin exterior, and within parts of the Barmkin.

For the vast majority of this exercise, only disturbed ground was affected. However, it is now clear that suspected buildings/wall-lines associated with earlier occupation of the hill survive to a large extend on at least the S elements of the pronounced earthwork to the W of the present tower. The evidence thus far suggests non mortar-bonded construction, and provisionally resembles earth and timber fabric, with drystone revetment, a form which could equally relate to the Prehistoric or Early Christian settlement, or the first 12th-century fortification. It would be worthwhile to survey this area of the castle in some detail, as many features are now visible now the security fence and scaffold have been removed. The likelihood exists that the defences were augmented by later occupants, and that they are of some antiquity, infilling a natural scarp in the bedrock itself. The potential for archaeological survival may be constrained by the area available for occupation, but the archaeological remains may survive to a substantial depth away the top of the slope. The short trench to the N of the Barmkin wall revealed probable redeposited evidence of Prehistoric/Early Christian activity, in the form of industrial debris from the working of shale for artefact manufacture. The recent larger-scale excavations (Kirkdale Archaeology 1988 onwards) retrieved numerous shale artefacts, including bracelet fragments etc.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

Kirkdale Archaeology