Excavation

Date 1986

Event ID 1084832

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1084832

NS 790 940 A brief excavation took place immediately N of the great hall after pipe-laying work had exposed dense midden deposits. In a small trench, 2.6m NS by 2.0m EW by up to 1.6m deep, the steeply S to N sloping bedrock had been partially levelled up prior to construction of the great hall annexe and the inner castle wall in the mid 16th Century. Above further levelling dumps between the two walls was a thick layer of rubble including two large stone balls, each c 0.45m diameter. The debris may have come from the early chapel, immediately to the W, replaced in 1594. The remainder of the deposits included a well stratified series of 17th to 18th Century bone middens from the great hall kitchens, amongst which was found the finely worked stone head of a bishop.

Sponsor: Historic Buildings and Monuments

J Cannell