Project

Date 10 August 2018 - 21 August 2018

Event ID 1088754

Category Project

Type Project

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1088754

NT 70004 40836 (Hume Old Parish Church) and NT 70469

41392 (Hume Castle) A three year project, led by the

Hume Castle Preservation Trust and working with local

volunteer groups and organisations, is being carried out

to investigate the remains of Hume Castle, the medieval

village of Hume, the former parish Church of St Nicholas,

and the surrounding landscape, in order to provide a better

understanding of the history of the sites. Over the course of

the three years a series of workshops and field seasons will

be conducted to investigate their historical background,

complete a walkover survey of the study area, conduct

a geophysical survey and graveyard survey at the former

parish church, conduct a historic building record of the

castle, and carry out excavations at key sites identified

during the survey works.

Contextualising Hume: Gravestone detail © HARP

A programme of work was undertaken 10–21 August 2018.

A walkover survey was conducted within land owned

by the Hume Castle Preservation Trust and surrounding

Hume Castle by HARP, supported by volunteers from the

local community. The walkover survey was used both as a

training opportunity, and to identify the extant remains of

sites surrounding the castle. The survey used results from

a former drone survey completed by HES to target specific

sites identified from the air. The survey identified a number

of the sites picked up by the drone, in particular a series of

house platforms and terraces relating to the former medieval

village and castle structures. Vegetation cover and terrain

made it difficult to identify all of the sites, but those that

were found could also be analysed on the ground, sometimes

suggesting different site types than previously identified.

A possible track way running around the N and E sides of

the castle was also revealed, which appears to have been

subsequently overlain by the dry stone walls of the loaning

to the E, suggesting an earlier date for the trackway. The

survey was able to highlight a number of suitable sites for

future excavation.

A graveyard survey was conducted within Hume Cemetery,

formerly housing the parish church of Hume. The graveyard

contains >100 visible memorial stones which were recorded

by plane table survey, and during 2018 survey and condition

recording were completed on 47 of the stones. A large

proportion of the stones are located within the bounds of the

former church, now visible as an earthen mound, towards

the centre of the graveyard. The earliest stone identified thus

far dates to 1717, and five of the 47 recorded stones have

been found to no longer be located in their original position.

The graveyard survey will continue in 2019.

Geophysical survey was completed within the graveyard

of the church of Hume, along with two fields located

immediately to the E, and S, which formed the glebe once

associated with the church. Within the graveyard the

geophysical results have highlighted a number of graves,

mainly marked by gravestones, and the likely foundations of

the former church. Within the footings of the church there

is evidence of possible internal divisions, while the exterior

of the church has also produced some linear anomalies

that may be representative of earlier walls of the church, or

possibly earlier boundaries of the graveyard. In the glebe

to the E there is evidence for possible pits and postholes,

possibly related to an earlier structure. Further pits have been

identified in the glebe to the S of the graveyard.

Historic building recording was conducted at Hume Castle,

with an enhanced survey taking place to record the exterior

elevations of the W, S, SE, and E-facing walls of the current

folly. The recording has been carried out in order to identify

architectural features within the castle, and to provide a

baseline record. The recording will continue in 2019 with an

aim to complete the record of the exterior elevations, and to

conduct the same level of recording on the interior elevations.

Archive and report: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Heritage Lottery Fund and Fallago Environment Fund

Website: www.contextualisinghume.co.uk

Ian Hill, Kieran Manchip, Samira Hill, Gern Midlane, Iain Pringle

and Rebecca Barclay – Heritage and Archaeological Research

Practice (HARP)

(Source: DES, Volume 19)