Project
Date 4 August 1998 - 24 October 1999
Event ID 1034177
Category Project
Type Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1034177
NS 4348 4242 Three seasons of excavation were carried out in 1998-99 at Rowallan Old Castle within the ruined NE tower, thought to be the earliest element of the surviving old castle complex. Prior to the start of the first season, the unroofed tower was filled with rubble from the collapse of the side walls, which survive to a maximum of two storeys over the internal castle courtyard. The excavations cleared the tower interior of debris, to allow for the consolidation of the surviving masonry.
The three seasons of work resulted in the following interim interpretation of the development of the NE tower.
Period 1 Mid-12th to late 14th century. Hall house. Massive stone build with distinctive external basal scarcement. Probably rectangular, aligned N-S. Two storeys.
Period 2 Late 14th to early 16th century. Tower house. Rubble build over residual Period 1 masonry. Square in plan, defined by construction of new S wall with intra-mural stair and passage. Probably three storeys, but survives as undercroft and first-floor hall.
Period 3 Early 16th to later 17th century. Altered tower house. Undercroft enlarged by insertion of barrel vault, raising first-floor level and lowering basement floor level. Alterations to E window.
Period 4 Later 17th to mid-18th century. Decline. Possible backfill and occasional occupation of undercroft.
Period 5 Mid-18th century to present. Abandonment and collapse. Collapse of the vault and stone robbing.
The removal of infill material demonstrated that the mound on which the NE tower is founded is of partly artificial origin; most likely an altered or augmented natural feature. The basal deposits within the cleared NE tower revealed a number of negative features, including post-holes with timber remains in situ, sealed below a crude metalling surface. A number of these features pre-dated the earliest walls of the tower. In addition, a concentration of cremated human remains, associated with a coarse pot, was revealed to the SE of the tower interior; this was interpreted as a prehistoric (Neolithic or Bronze Age) burial site. The settlement and land-use sequence at Rowallan Old Castle can therefore be traced back to prehistory. Further excavation (report in production) during September 1999 sought to further clarify the features revealed at the end of the tower clearance works.
A watching brief was maintained at Rowallan Old Castle during the excavation of a cable trench in August 1999. References to a castle at Rowallan date as far back as 1263. A new mansion was constructed by Lorimer around 1km to the NW in the early 20th century, after which the old castle fell into disrepair.
The cable trench ran around the NW side of the old castle, to the SE of the adjoining tennis court area, before continuing beneath the NW perimeter wall. Thereafter the trench ran along the edge of a field to the SW of the castle greenhouses, and along the E-W access road leading to the new castle. Up to the NW perimeter wall, the trench crossed land under the guardianship of Historic Scotland, and within this area the trench was hand-excavated. Beyond the wall the trench was excavated by machine.
In the area directly to the NW of the 16th-century S range, 19th-century dumping deposits were seen to be cut by modern service pipes, while the N ranges of the castle could be seen to be founded on a natural bedrock outcrop. At the foot of the outcrop, sherds of green-glazed pottery, including a sherd with a strap handle, were recovered, associated with a clay pipe bowl bearing Masonic designs. These represent the only potentially pre-19th-century finds recovered during the excavations. The remainder of the trench proved almost sterile in terms of archaeological material, consisting of a deep horizon of relatively stone-free, undifferentiated sandy clay. A geometric carriage drive shown on the 1st edition OS map of 1856 was cut by the new trench, and the metalling of the road surface, lined on both sides by mature beech, was recorded here.
While the trench did not reveal extensive archaeological features, the watching brief afforded the opportunity to record the topography of the area immediately to the NW of the castle in more detail. The tennis court was seen to be cut at its NW corner into an earlier landscaped bank, topped by mature yew trees. The associated walled gardens are known to date from the 16th century, and contain a further yew some 600 years old. The area which later saw use as a tennis court may have served as an early formal garden, designed to be viewed from the new S range of the castle.
G Ewart, D Stewart and A Dunn 1999
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
Kirkdale Archaeology
