Book of Deer Project

Date 3 September 2016 - 16 September 2016

Event ID 1022564

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1022564

NJ 978 476 Twenty-six archaeologists, students and local volunteers took part in this community excavation, 3–16 September 2016, which was funded by Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service. Sixteen trenches were located in Old Deer village, the Episcopal Church and the Parish Church graveyard.

The trenches in the village revealed the remains of cottages at 14 Abbey Street including a cobbled area, and a cobbled yard or roadway between 8–10 Abbey Street and the Kemp Hall, an area which appears to have been a track or road between the buildings. Nothing earlier than the post-medieval

structures was recorded in these trenches. In the garden of 8–10 Abbey Street 19th- to 20th-century deposits were recorded to a depth of 1m, although a 17th-century coin was recovered.

At the rear of the Episcopalian Church the ground had been prone to flooding and the area had been raised in height using stony rubble sealed with clay, but no other deposits were found and no finds earlier than the 19th century were recovered.

Eleven trenches were excavated in the Parish Church graveyard to determine the make-up of the ground. Trenches next to the medieval ruin contained large amounts of human bone (all reburied), suggesting that they were within the medieval graveyard. Other trenches contained domestic and building rubble. The robber trench of the 12th-century church was excavated, but no evidence of a deep geophysical anomaly was identified. No finds or other evidence that this is the site of the early monastery of Deer have been recovered during the three seasons of archaeological work within the graveyard.

Archive: NRHE

Funder: Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service

Alison Cameron – Cameron Archaeology

(Source: DES)

OASIS ID: camerona1-266642