Trial Trench

Date 15 June 2009 - 9 September 2009

Event ID 1019580

Category Recording

Type Trial Trench

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019580

(Circa NT 27011 74050) A watching brief was carried out during consolidation work on the boundary wall of Holyrood Park near Croft-an-Righ. This included the excavation of trial trenches on both sides of the wall, which revealed recently disturbed deposits containing abundant finds of late 19th-century date including brick and glass fragments, along with a substantial quantity of pan-tile, perhaps indicating the presence of a roofed structure adjacent to the wall, now demolished. The wall at this point was a in a poor state of repair, due in part to damage caused by tree roots. Also there were several areas of repair. Some fragments of stone were seen which seemed likely to have been taken from the ruined Holyrood Abbey nearby. After the initial examination and recording, a section of wall with a maximum length of 7.0m was demolished. Further investigation revealed that there were at least two phases of boundary wall in this area and the earlier of these was mostly removed when the later wall was erected. The later wall has also had numerous repairs.

Information from Alan Radley (Kirkdale Archaeology) 20 March 2010. OASIS ID: kirkdale1-249677