Excavation

Date 8 February 2007

Event ID 1034497

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1034497

Under the terms of its PIC call‐off contract with Historic Scotland, Kirkdale Archaeology was asked to undertake a short period of archaeological monitoring at Caerlaverock Castle during the extension of a drain in the N car park. The excavation was carried out by contractors.

The drain originally had been excavated in October 2006 (under archaeological supervision) to direct surface water away from the Golpla‐surfaced car parks to the NE of the castle but following three months of use there remained a build up of water in the SE corner of the N car park. From previous excavations carried out by Kirkdale Archaeology in June 2006 and a watching brief in October 2006 it was known that there is an 18th‐ or 19th‐century wall in this area, therefore the excavation was carried by hand when the area in which the wall was known to be located.

The excavation of the drain extension in the SE corner of the N car park revealed a previously excavated wall, probably dating to the 18th‐ or 19th‐century. There were no visible remains of this structure above ground, possibly due in part to the car park landscaping. Though relatively little of the wall was revealed during the current excavation the build of small, roughly rectangular blocks including bricks appeared fairly crude, suggesting that this structure may have been an outbuilding for one of the cottages at one time, which then fell into disuse and was demolished.

G Ewart 2007

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

Kirkdale Archaeology