Excavation

Date 7 December 2011 - 27 January 2012

Event ID 1003245

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1003245

NS 915 816 A programme of work was undertaken, 7 December 2011 – 27 January 2012, in the former grounds of Kerse House, which was known to be a post-medieval mansion with possible medieval origins. The desk-based assessment established that the site fell within an estate formerly known as ‘West Kerse’ and documented in 1289.

A castle in the vicinity was referred to in a Royal Charter of 1508, while Pont’s 16th-century map depicts a ‘Carss Castell’ in the approximate location of the site. Roy shows a single house surrounded by gardens in the mid-18th century, while subsequent estate plans and the 1st Edition OS map of 1861 depict the house, walled garden and associated grounds.

Kerse House was vacated in the early 20th century and finally demolished in 1957. Traces of the structure remained visible on the surface prior to the commencement of the works.

A Level 2 building survey recorded the upstanding remains in the grounds, which included an 18th-century walled garden, ice house and additional garden walls. An area excavation of c1ha was centred on the footprint of the house. The basement level of the structure was preserved beneath demolition infill and topsoil. In the best preserved sections walls survived

up to 1.5m in height, alongside flooring and with surviving architectural features.

The structure that formed the core of the house was probably late medieval in date (13th to 16th century) and consisted of a thick-walled rectangular hall or tower house of rectangular form constructed from sandstone blocks. Some original features, including doorways, window recesses and internal divisions, survived. Surrounding the medieval structure was a series of drainage ditches, which were interpreted as

contemporary with the house and were back-filled in the early 18th century.

The remains of the house showed a sequence of five phases of expansion. A comparison of the structural remains with the archival collection of architectural plans showed that the earliest surviving plans, by John Adam in the late 18th century, were never developed; others, such as John Tait’s 1830 plan and those from 1876, proved to be an accurate representation

of the building.

The programme of work confirmed the medieval origins of Kerse House and established the nature of the structure at that time. It also confirmed the later phases of development, which could already be traced by examination of surviving architectural and estate plans. Very little artefactual evidence was recovered. A small environmental assemblage of

waterlogged and charred material was recovered from the basal fills of the presumed medieval drainage ditches.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended). Report Falkirk Council

Funder: Bericote Properties Ltd

Alistair Robertson – Headland Archaeology Ltd

(Source: DES)