Archaeological Evaluation
Date 26 October 2015 - 2 December 2018
Event ID 1088946
Category Recording
Type Archaeological Evaluation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1088946
NO 1171 2364 (centred on) A programme of archaeological
work was undertaken, 17 May 2016 – 2 October 2017
(watching brief) and 26 October 2015 – 2 December 2018
(evaluation), in advance of demolition and building work
associated with the Red Rooms attached to the E side of
Perth Theatre (NO12SW 608) at 187 High Street. The site
lies mainly in backlands within the town’s medieval core, on
the N side of the High Street and on the S side of the town’s
medieval ditch and wall defences that followed the line that
is now Mill Street. A total of five evaluation trenches were
excavated, covering 60m² (10%) of the development area.
Trench 01, in the car park, revealed typical medieval
backland deep garden soils with some cultivation features,
and containing abundant finds of medieval pottery, animal
bone and shell. Below the garden soil, at a depth of 4.70m
AOD (2.40m below tarmac) natural subsoil was encountered.
The natural deposit had been cut by a sub-rectangular feature,
which was interpreted as a possible boundary or defensive
ditch terminal, and which may have formed part of ditch
features found in Trenches 02 and 03 inside the Red Rooms.
Trench 02 was located at the N end of the Red Rooms
building where the floor level was 1m lower, at 6.04m AOD,
than the remainder of the building and the surface level of the
car park. This trench also contained deep medieval garden
soil with abundant finds of pottery, animal bone and shell.
Below the garden soil natural sand was reached. Cut into
the natural sand was a large N/S running ditch, c3.5m wide
and up to 1.5m deep. The lower fill of the ditch contained
some sherds of early medieval pottery. It is considered that
it may have been an extension of the ditch feature found
in Trench 01. The ditch appeared too large for an ordinary
property boundary, such as that of a burgage plot, and it
is possible that the ditch may be part of an early boundary
and/or defensive ditch along the western edge of the town of
Perth, within the line later established for the town defences
in the 14th century. On the W side of the ditch were bands of
ashy clay-silt with frequent finds of daub, which may have
represented floor levels above the ditch fill and therefore
post-dated the period in which the ditch was active.
Trench 03 was located at the mid-point of the Red Rooms at
7.08m AOD (top of concrete floor). This trench also revealed
garden soils, a clay floor and a stone drain. Below the clay
floor was a large pit, 1.22m deep, which contained medieval
pottery, bone and some industrial metal waste. The pit had
been cut into an earlier pit 1.20m across and 1.15m deep.
The earlier pit also contained blacksmithing waste. It was
considered that the earlier pit may have been a slag pit
furnace or perhaps a quenching pit. The pits post-dated a
line of removed planks and a gravel track. At the extreme W
edge of the trench was a N/S cut across the trench, which
could not be excavated fully, but may well have represented
the E edge of a ditch feature, possibly an extension of the
ditch feature found in Trenches 01 and 02.
Trench 04 was located at the S end of the Red Rooms at
7.02m AOD (concrete floor surface). It contained significant
and complex interleaving stone, clay, gravel, silt and midden
layers, extending to at least 2.81m below the floor surface. Of
significance were substantial parts of the S and E walls of a
clay bonded stone building, which extended in a northerly
direction (into Trench 05). This structure was considered
to be early post-medieval in date. Associated with this
structure was a cobbled area considered to be an outside
courtyard. Other features of significance were a rough flat
stone pathway extending along the E face of the structure
and truncated uprights for a wattle fence, perhaps an animal
pen, on the E side of the path. The final layer excavated at
the W end of the trench contained part of a wooden plank
sill beam, indicating the earlier presence of wattle and daub
structures in the vicinity. A sondage at the E end of the trench
revealed further organic trample layers and gravel makeup
layers. At the base of the sondage two postholes had been cut
into natural. Augering established that the natural deposit
extended to a depth of at least 3.65m AOD (3.37m below
floor surface).
Trench 05 was excavated on the N side of Trench 04
to further investigate the building found in that trench.
Trench 05 also contained a complex stratigraphy, indicative
of intensive urban use from the medieval period. The E/W
wall of the building revealed in Trench 04 was found to
continue into Trench 05. The flat stone path on the E side of
the wall also continued into Trench 05. A cobbled surface on
the W side of the wall was considered to be a contemporary
interior surface or floor. Overlying the cobble surface at its W
end was a deposit of small coal fragments. The coal deposit
may have been for domestic use. A sondage on the W side
of the wall, below the cobble floor, revealed a deep layer
of midden material over a rectangular hearth feature which
pre-dated the construction of the wall. The hearth feature
consisted of several layers of heat-affected sand. A small
quantity of slag and metal working debris found in greyblack
silt above the hearth suggests that the hearth was used
for metal working. Below the bottom hearth layer the auger
was used to ascertain the depth of any further deposits. The
auger reached a final depth of 4.05m AOD (almost 3m below
floor level) and revealed layers of silt and clay considered to
be archaeological. Natural deposits were not identified.
The watching brief after the demolition of the Red Rooms
noted the continuation of the wall in Trench 04 for another
3m westwards and of the wall in Trench 05 for another 1.8m
northwards. Garden soil with medieval pottery, oyster shells
and animal bone was noted in trenches for lift shafts and
services. Three stone walls were recorded, two of which were
probably former rig boundaries and the third probably part
of a building demolished in the 1980s when the Red Rooms
were built.
Archive: NRHE (intended)
Funder: Robertson Construction Group on behalf of Perth and
Kinross Council
Ray Cachart – Alder Archaeology Ltd
(Source: DES, Volume 19)