Watching Brief

Date 19 October 2000 - 23 October 2000

Event ID 1030207

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1030207

Archaeological monitoring was undertaken at Dumbarton Castle on the 19th and the 23rd of October while Historic Scotland MCU undertook minor excavations at the Powder Magazine.

The work involved lifting the western section of the brick pathway between the magazine and the blast wall in order to run a drainage pipe along the back of the magazine. The drain was to serve the down pipe at the W end of the magazine S wall before running down the middle of the pathway on the W side of the building at which point it was to take up the water from the down pipe at the W end of the magazine N wall and then finally drain away to the N via a hole cut through the blast wall.

The brick paving [100] does not appear to be of any antiquity and could well be 20th-century. The context [101] appears to be a levelling material made up of midden and demolition debris, chosen for its excellent drainage qualities which of course is essential around the base of a powder magazine. It could easily be derived locally from fires and furnaces around the area of the French Prison slightly further down the hill. The finds suggest a Victorian date for this material. The fragment of earlier green glaze seems an unusual addition to this deposit.

The iron pot is quite problematic. Clearly whatever use it had ended when the brick path was built over it. The depth of it within the ash allowing loose material to infill an unprotected pot suggests the removal of a top structure to this item before being sealed over. Additionally the feature was deliberately covered over with a capstone rather then simply infilled with debris suggesting some sort of continual use or planned further use. Clearly someone working in the vicinity of the powder magazine required a small permanent water source placed unobtrusively around the back of the structure. It seems likely that this hill would have been used in both World Wars as well as other times as a vantage point for spotting ships or aircraft and this small water containment may relate to that activity rather that to the active life of the magazine.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

G Ewart and A Dunn 2000

Kirkdale Archaeology