Archaeological Evaluation

Date 25 May 2012 - 1 July 2014

Event ID 1014014

Category Recording

Type Archaeological Evaluation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1014014

NS 41028 67074 A programme of evaluations and watching briefs was undertaken, 25 May – 1 July 2014, during the construction of a new hall to the rear of the kirk. As the site is occupied by a medieval and later graveyard the foundations of the new hall were designed, as a system of mini-piles and sleeper-beams, to avoid causing damage to the known gravestones and burials. To enable the construction to take place a total of 18 gravestones were lowered, 12 were left in situ beneath the new building and 6 were relocated outside the development area.

The excavation of trenches required for a new septic tank, drains and a manhole was also monitored. Five poorly preserved articulated burials were uncovered in a test pit in the SE corner of the graveyard, in an area where there were no marked graves. These burials ranged from adult to neonate and were accompanied by shroud pins and coffin nails. The burials were left in situ and the septic tank was moved outside the graveyard. A small number of skulls, revealed during the digging of the drains, were left in situ.

An infilled mill pond and a revetment wall were recorded in a drainage trench to the S of the graveyard. Both features are depicted on a mid-19th-century 1st Edition OS map of the area. The mill pond, which had become infilled by the end of the 19th century, an open mill lade and a stream were associated with the nearby Butts Mill.

There were very few finds and all were 19th/20th-century in date, apart from two residual sherds of late medieval pottery.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Houston and Killellan Kirk

Heather F James – Northlight Heritage

(Source: DES)

OASIS ID - northlig1-309684