Watching Brief

Date 15 October 1998 - 23 October 1998

Event ID 1028408

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1028408

Kirkdale Archaeology undertook an archaeological watching brief during the excavation of two small inspection holes being opened up at the S. end of the E. wall of the garden attached to the S. side of Argyll's Lodging. The core of the building is thought to be sixteenth century, with the bulk of it being built during the seventeenth century, with the late seventeenth century S. wing being demolished, apart from the street frontage, during the 1860' s. The wall against which the trenches were excavated, which forms part of the terrace for a garden, is bulging at its' base, and it was hoped that these excavations might shed light on this problem.

A 19th-century imported garden soil containing green-glazed pottery, but also some white china and clay pipe, overlay a deposit of mostly whin rubble and mortar, which was not bottomed. This seems most likely to derive from the 1860s demolition of the S wing of Argyll's Lodging, and had been cut by a trench running N-S against the E wall. This was shown to contain the upper part of this wall, which must be a rebuild on top of an earlier wall, and which bottomed some 800mm below the modern ground level. Beneath this the wall stepped in dramatically, and excavations were ceased.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

D Murray 1998

Kirkdale Archaeology