Goldburn

At NT 25259 66783, a single pit was uncovered during a watching brief on groundworks for a new drinking water pipeline for Edinburgh. The pit was sub-circular in plan, with a flat base and a steeply sloping SE side and a gently sloping NW side. It measured 1.4m in diameter and had been cut into the natural subsoil to a depth of 0.3m. The fill of the pit consisted of firmly compacted angular to rounded burnt and fire-cracked stone with occasional fragments of charcoal. One worked lithic was recovered from the fill of the pit. This feature is considered most likely to have been a prehistoric cooking pit.

M. Kirby, CFA Archaeology, December 2011. OASIS-id: cfaarcha-111885

A series of archaeological investigations were undertaken in advance of groundworks for the Edinburgh Drinking Water Project which will see the installation of a new water pipeline from the new Water Treatment plant at Glencorse to the existing water treatment plant at Alnwickhall with a spur running, from NT 25354 66630 to NT 25025 67340, to join existing pipework by the City bypass.

The watching brief included the monitoring of upfill operations overlying the possible Roman fortlet at Glencorse (NT26SW 33), and the photographic recording of any field boundaries within the policies (NT26NE 67.13) and designed landscape associated with Mortonhall House prior to their demolition. This programme of work led to the identification of three sites considered to be of archaeological potential: a dyke and the remains of associated rig and furrow cultivation (NT26SE 172)); a single pit containing fire-cracked stone and a single flint flake (NT26NE 374); and a ditch with a right-angled turn (NT26NE 375). Pottery recovered from the base of this ditch suggests that it was modern in date. It may have been either a feature associated with the Mortonhall House designed landscape, or a military feature excavated for military training by troops who were stationed at Mortonhall during World War II.

A metal detector survey was undertaken pre-construction of the section of pipeline running from Mortonhall army camp (NT26NE 90) to the road leading to Meadowhead Farm over the site of a supposed Cromwellian Army Encampment (NT26NE 5).

M. Kirby, CFA Archaeology, December 2011. OASIS-id: cfaarcha1-111885