Watching Brief

Date 4 December 1999 - 5 December 1999

Event ID 1028642

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1028642

During December 1999 a programme of cable trenching was undertaken by local contractors under archaeological supervision. The project consisted of cutting a trench along the E access road from a point to the SE of the fort at the edge of the glacis to a point within the fort near the N entrance to the south sallyport.

The present metalled road leading up to the South Sallyport through the Glacis cutting is a relatively recent addition to the structure of the Fort and in itself has little historical value. Only at the points where it cuts original masonry will there be any archaeological interest. The depth of this excavation was clearly too shallow to expose buried structures.

Within the confines of the south sallyport the new trench followed the exact line of the old water main with the result that all the layering was backfill from that period. The variable depth of the water pipe at the S entrance to the tunnel might indicate some form of masonry threshold below.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

D Stewart 1999

Kirkdale