Watching Brief

Date 7 December 2009 - 14 December 2009

Event ID 1034243

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1034243

Under the terms of its PIC call-off contract with Historic Scotland, Kirkdale Archaeology was asked to undertake an archaeological watching brief on the excavation of a series of trenches ahead of the erection of a scaffold at Castle Campbell near Dollar in Clackmannanshire. Forty trenches were excavated over a two day period around the W side of the N façade of the Tower, the W side of the S façade of the S Range and the E façade of the Tower, E Range and S Range. Where the ground was level, a simple de-turf or scrape was sufficient to bed the scaffold pads. The trenches ran deeper where the topography sloped i.e. around the area of the potential motte below the Tower, and the ravine falling away from the E façade of the castle. The brief was to dig a depth sufficient to provide a flat platform for each scaffold base - and as such, given the position of the trenches, there was no opportunity to assess the make-up of the mound below the Tower. The Tower is thought to date to the early 15th Century, while the S Range was added around 1500, and the E Range in 1590.

G Ewart 2009

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

Kirkdale Archaeology