Watching Brief

Date March 2016 - October 2016

Event ID 1024213

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1024213

NT 17532 95883 A watching brief, March – October 2016, during underpinning works at Lochore Castle was commissioned by the Living Lomonds Landscape Partnership as a requirement of scheduled monument consent. The excavation of a new electrical duct around the perimeter of the site was also monitored. Four test pits were excavated on the N side of the barmkin wall revealing 0.7m of mining clinker overlying a rubble and sand layer containing medieval pottery. Four further pits were excavated at the base of the tower’s N, NW, NE and SW elevations. Rubble and foundations were exposed in all the pits except the NW pit where a previously unknown cavity was uncovered. Modern infill was excavated to a depth of 0.9m revealing the partial remains of a passageway and inner doorway arch, before works were halted and the pit backfilled. The trench for the duct around the fringes of the site uncovered mainly made-up ground and sand and rubble deposits, except on the S and NE sides where several sherds of medieval pottery were found.

Archive: FCCT, NRHE and Fife Council (intended)

Funder: Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Environment Scotland

Oliver O’Grady – OJT Heritage