Watching Brief

Date 8 August 2016

Event ID 1025437

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1025437

NT 58809 33967 (NT53SE 23) A watching brief was carried out, 8 August 2016, during topsoil stripping for a new car park and access road around the E edge of a former gardener’s cottage and immediately S of the walled garden at Old Melrose House. Garden features, a truncated gravel surface, and a fragmentary human skull, were recorded along with 13 fragments of bone some of which may be human. Spreads of demolition debris, possibly landscaping deposits, were found along the access road to the car park

aligned E/W to the E of Old Melrose House. The work was undertaken in accordance with the conditions of scheduled monument consent and the police were informed of the discovery of the skull. The decision was made to protect the remains and to leave them in situ under a protective layer of

geotextile and sand.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: William Younger

Alan Hunter Blair – GUARD Archaeology Ltd

(Source: DES, Volume 17)