Excavation

Date 10 June 2002 - 14 July 2002

Event ID 1034280

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1034280

NS 728 542 The second season of archaeological excavation was completed on elements of the Inner Ward of the late 15th-/early 16th-century Cadzow Castle (NS 75 SW 8). Following on from the 2001 programme of trial trenching on and around the Inner Ward (DES 2001, 92–3), a more extensive programme of excavation was completed in the summer of 2002. The project was also timed to exploit maximum potential numbers of visitors to the site, including school parties, specialist groups and the general public. The fieldwork was further complemented by the creation of a website for the project (www.cadzowcastle.net) and displays in the local museums.

Work continued within the inner ditch and the principal structures of the central tower. Although extensive 18th- and 19th-century stone robbing and landscaping has significantly obscured the layout of the Inner Ward, the excavation suggests that a central complex of chambers survives to first-floor level, within a curtain wall, accessed from the N and W.

The 2002 excavation continued the investigation of the Inner Ward in two general areas: further work in Area 1 – the summit of the rubble mound (Trenches 3, 7 and 8); and the W section of the inner ditch, next to the SW Tower (Trench 9, Area 3).In both areas the principal aim was to define the extent of late landscaping and consequent survival of earlier structures and deposits. The work was delimited by several logistical and safety issues, but also by the need to preserve structures associated with the 18th- and 19th-century landscaping phases.

In addition, recording work was completed on a section of masonry revealed during shrub and undergrowth clearance work on the S side of the inner ditch (Area 4).

The 2002 programme clearly showed that the site had been massively reduced on its S and E sides particularly. The rubble was apparently simply for the infill of the inner ditch and related landscaping, most likely between 1813–20 on behalf of the 10thDuke of Hamilton – ‘Il Magnifico’. Any remaining walls to the N and W were found then to have been pulled down over the general interior of the tower. The resulting mound was then crudely revetted and its edges battered to create a stable viewing platform overlooking the Avon Gorge within the (by then) densely planted19th-century park.

The surviving structures within the Inner Ward Tower were limited to the lower principal floor where evidence of a series of vaulted chambers was found below the 19th-century rubble and collapse. The walls have not yet been fully exposed but some featured fine blue plaster rendering with doors and windows still in situ. Some evidence of the upper floor arrangements survived in the form of a possible main stair and doorway towards the W side of the tower, a newel stair on the N, and a garderobe on the E. All these features are thought to have served more formal apartments, the quality of which is suggested by the massive assemblage of floor tiles and fragments of moulded masonry discarded during the 19th-century works.The work within the inner ditch showed it had been largely backfilled with rubble, creating the present graded profile upon which the present S access road was constructed.

G Ewart, D Stewart, D Murray, & A Hollinrake 2002

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

Kirkdale Archaeology