Build
Mark Thacker – University of Stirling
NO 1581 3773 A programme of landscape, buildings and
materials analysis is being carried out at Kinclaven Castle
within the framework of this project. Buildings analysis
indicated that all surviving upstanding walls at Kinclaven
Castle display a very consistent suite of masonry techniques
and materials, and on this basis can be interpreted
as essentially single phase. The surviving masonry is
characterised by wall faces of quarried sandstone laid
in formal courses 230–400mm high, with the external
face constructed upon a fine-dressed splay-moulded
basal plinth. The wall core, in contrast, is composed of
a geological mixture of stones, including very rounded
detrital quartz, granite and sandstone. High volumes of
surviving constructional mortar are exposed throughout,
in continuous and compositionally-consistent core and
bedding contexts, and this material could be characterised
in situ as a wood-fired limestone-lime mortar. A limited
sampling programme was undertaken to investigate these
materials, and the assemblage included 19 probable relict
fuel inclusions, 2 core mortar fragments, 1 relict limestone
clast, and 1 loose sandstone fragment.
Lab-based analysis of the assemblage included thick and
thin section analysis of all mortar and limestone samples.
These analyses confirmed that the constructional mortar
at the castle had been manufactured from a very fine
sedimentary limestone (included with a fine mixture of
metamorphic rock and mineral intraclasts) and that this lime
had been tempered with a quartz-rich aggregate consistent
with the nearby riverine source. Archaeobotanical analysis
indicated that the relict fuel assemblage was dominated
by wood-charcoal of various taxonomies and four welldistributed
samples were selected for radiocarbon analysis.
Archive: NRHE (intended)
Funder: University of Stirling and Historic Environment Scotland
