Watching Brief

Date 22 January 2017 - 2 February 2017

Event ID 1038033

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1038033

NO 1667 2226 (NO12SE 13) A programme of archaeological work was undertaken, 22 January – 2 February 2017, during consolidation and repair work at the church. A watching brief was undertaken during ground reduction/levelling within the church. A series of test pits were excavated along the line of a new water drainage system to the S of the church. The subsequent installation of this drainage and the excavation of a trench on the N side of the church, for the installation of a monument, were monitored.

The material removed from the interior of the church contained a moderate assemblage of 19th/20th-century pottery and glass fragments. A large quantity of charnel was recorded within the lower deposits of the water drainage trench, but no in situ inhumations were present. The excavation of the soakaway exposed a large stone slab in the E section and partially exposed the remains of a burial 1m below ground level. The excavation ceased at this level and the inhumation was left in situ.

The monument trench to the N side of the church exposed made ground to one side and a clay backfill to the other. It also revealed a rough void in the exposed wall face. This potentially relates to two construction phases of the church. A number of other architectural features were exposed during

consolidation work. Amongst these features was a series of beam slots on the internal elevation of the E wall, indicating the presence of an upper floor at this end of the church. A grave slab that had been utilised as a window lintel was also temporarily exposed and recorded during this work.

Archive: NRHE

Funder: Tay Landscape Partnership

Donald Wilson – Headland Archaeology Ltd

(Source: DES, Volume 18)