Watching Brief

Date 11 August 1999 - 19 August 1999

Event ID 1022212

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1022212

A watching brief was maintained at Rowallan Old Castle during the excavation of a cable trench in August 1999. References to a castle at Rowallan date as far back as 1263. A new mansion was constructed by Lorimer around 1km to the NW in the early 20th century, after which the old castle fell into disrepair.

The cable trench ran around the NW side of the old castle, to the SE of the adjoining tennis court area, before continuing beneath the NW perimeter wall. Thereafter the trench ran along the edge of a field to the SW of the castle greenhouses, and along the E-W access road leading to the new castle. Up to the NW perimeter wall, the trench crossed land under the guardianship of Historic Scotland, and within this area the trench was hand-excavated. Beyond the wall the trench was excavated by machine.

In the area directly to the NW of the 16th-century S range, 19th-century dumping deposits were seen to be cut by modern service pipes, while the N ranges of the castle could be seen to be founded on a natural bedrock outcrop. At the foot of the outcrop, sherds of green-glazed pottery, including a sherd with a strap handle, were recovered, associated with a clay pipe bowl bearing Masonic designs. These represent the only potentially pre-19th-century finds recovered during the excavations. The remainder of the trench proved almost sterile in terms of archaeological material, consisting of a deep horizon of relatively stone-free, undifferentiated sandy clay. A geometric carriage drive shown on the 1st edition OS map of 1856 was cut by the new trench, and the metalling of the road surface, lined on both sides by mature beech, was recorded here.

While the trench did not reveal extensive archaeological features, the watching brief afforded the opportunity to record the topography of the area immediately to the NW of the castle in more detail. The tennis court was seen to be cut at its NW corner into an earlier landscaped bank, topped by mature yew trees. The associated walled gardens are known to date from the 16th century, and contain a further yew some 600 years old. The area which later saw use as a tennis court may have served as an early formal garden, designed to be viewed from the new S range of the castle.

D Stewart and A Dunn 1999

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

Kirkdale Archaeology