Excavation

Date 22 May 2017 - 29 June 2017

Event ID 1040668

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1040668

NS 49040 68030 (SMR ID: NS46NE 11) A community excavation was undertaken, 22 May – 29 June 2017, at the site of a possible early-Christian shrine and monastery. A medieval church, an 1828 church and a 1904 church were built on this site and the last church was demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Glasgow Airport runway.

A geophysical survey conducted by Magnitude Surveys prior to the excavation revealed two possible features in the Glebe, a possible 18th-century track from the graveyard to Causwayhead and a possible curving boundary feature. The survey did not identify any new gravestones in the graveyard, but did reveal the foundations of what may be the 1828 church.

A total of four trenches were dug within the All Hallows graveyard and two trenches were dug in the vicinity. Trench 1 (4 x 4m) was located over the S wall of the 1904 church. Features of the 20th-century church were revealed at a depth of c0.5m below the surface. These features included a wall, the sandstone tiled floor of the side aisle and a concrete surface beneath the pews. The walls of the 1904 church had been demolished and the site sealed with imported clay and topsoil. A 2 x 2m sondage was cut in the centre of the trench, through the concrete floor. Within this sondage the sub-floor deposits were excavated for a further 1.35m (a maximum depth of 1.85m below the surface). The uppermost deposits below the concrete consisted of several layers of demolition debris, made up of fragments of sandstone (some with curved or squared edges) sand, mortar and brick. They contained numerous sherds of stained glass and lead came. Segments of four sandstone walls were revealed. These walls were abutted by brown sandy layers that contained occasional small fragments of bone. The size of the sondage was further reduced to avoid the bone and at a depth of c1.5m below the surface several shroud pins and two coins were found. One coin has been identified as a 15th-century Scottish Billon penny and the other as a possible cut short cross penny of Hugh Walter of the early 13th century. At the bottom of the trench the top of a human skull was seen in section. The skull was left in situ and the trench not excavated further. This layer also contained stained glass, possibly 15th/16thcentury in date, nails and a sheep’s tooth.

Trench 2 (7 x 3m) was located over the path that once led towards the porch located to the N of the 1904 church. Like Trench 1, the uppermost deposits consisted of imported clay and topsoil that together were 0.40–0.75m deep. Once these deposits were removed, the porch step and 1960s tarmac path were revealed. A small rough cross was seen in the surface of the porch step. A deeper sondage was excavated in the middle of the trench. Below the tarmac path, there was a deposit of demolition debris (up to 0.7m deep) which contained architectural fragments, probably derived from the 1904 and 1828 churches. A massive wall was found towards the N end of the trench, the top of which was 1.2m below the surface. The wall was 0.9m wide and survived to at least 0.5m high. This wall was interpreted as the old, pre-1904, graveyard enclosure wall, aligned E/W, as seen on the 1st Edition OS map of the mid-19th century. Between the old graveyard wall and the porch step there was a series of deposits of brown clay silt, which together were c0.4–0.5m deep. This material contained only a few small fragments of brick and slate, a single nail and a single sherd of pre-Industrial pottery. This deposit had been cut into by the foundations for the 1904 church, a large linear hollow filled with demolition debris, and the old graveyard wall. The brown clay-silt sealed a few tumbled stones that may have once been a wall aligned E/W. These stones sat on top of yellowish weathered bedrock at a depth of 1.5m from the surface.

Trench 3 (4 x 4m) was excavated at the junction of the 1904 church and the Blytheswood Mausoleum. When the imported clay deposit and topsoil were removed, the outer church wall, the side and back aisle floors and a concrete surface beneath the pews were revealed. A small sondage was dug beneath the concrete and this revealed two earlier walls. One wall (aligned E/W) was thought to be the N wall of the 1828 church tower and a second wall (aligned N/S) may have been the W wall of the 1828 church. The footprint of the 1904 church was revealed in several places around the site by the removal of the turf, where the stones survived within about 0.2m of the surface.

Trench 4 was located over the Boiler House of the 1904 church where it had been thought some stone cross shafts from the All Hallows graveyard had been dumped. The fill of the Boiler House was removed until this became unsafe because of the large size and weight of the debris. The doorway to the Boiler House was exposed, and a few architectural fragments from the 1904 church were found, but no stone cross shafts were retrieved.

Trench 5 (3 x 6m) was dug in the centre of the Manse Green. No significant archaeological features were seen.

However, 40 sherds of pre-Industrial pottery (some probably medieval), a fragment of a shale bracelet, over 500 sherds of modern pottery and other modern material was retrieved from the deposits. These deposits have been interpreted as cultivated soils into which midden material has been added as fertiliser. The relative abundance of pre-Industrial pottery suggests that there was occupation dating from the medieval to the 17th-century nearby. The shale bracelet is possibly Iron Age in date and is the only prehistoric evidence retrieved. The geophysical survey had revealed a faint anomaly in the Glebe Field which could be interpreted as a possible curving wall or ditch to the NW of the churchyard. Permission was not granted to dig in the Glebe Field and so a machine cut trench (Trench 6) was located in the field to the E of it, to the N of the churchyard, in order to examine whether this possible curving feature extended beyond the Glebe Field. Only two very shallow, narrow, linear features were seen below the shallow topsoil and both contained modern pottery and glass.

Archive: NRHE (intended). Report: Calluna Archaeology (intended)

Funder: HLF, HES, Robert Barr Charitable Trust, Hugh Fraser Foundation, AMW Charitable Trust, Dickon Trust Fund, Peter Coats Trust and Pete

Heather James – Calluna Archaeology

(Source: DES, Volume 18)