Archaeological Evaluation

Date 21 June 2018 - 28 September 2018

Event ID 1105644

Category Recording

Type Archaeological Evaluation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1105644

NS 5680 6833 A programme of archaeological work was undertaken, 21 June – 28 September 2018, on the site of the former barracks. The work formed part of Scottish Archaeology Month 2018, and the results will contribute to a wider Heritage Lottery-funded community project run by the mangers of the Wyndford Estate, Cube Housing Association. This project seeks to engage the local residents in the heritage of the barracks, and investigate the History of the site from the 1890s until the 1960s when the barracks were demolished.

The work included a desk-based assessment, geophysical survey (undertaken by Rose Geophysical Consultants) and a small trench excavation across the recorded locations of the former late 19th-century Barrack’s Church an adjacent building, and a series of U-shaped buildings dating to the mid-20th century. These buildings are located within accessible public green spaces. Additional excavation work was undertaken on 28th September 2018 with local volunteers from the Cube Housing Association and the Dunbartonshire Canal College 2 programme.

The work revealed the presence of a possible surface relating to the exterior of the U-shaped buildings, an interior surface and internal fixtures and fittings associated with the building near to the church. Excavation in these areas suggests that structural features were demolished, and then the ground infilled and levelled with imported material. Numerous modern finds from the topsoil indicate the post-barracks use of the site and the public green spaces.

Whilst no structural remains of the church were identified, the geophysical survey and excavation suggest that a raised platform or mound at the location of the former church, is man-made, constructed from demolition and imported infilling material, and that upstanding structural remains of the church survive within the mound.

Archive: NRHE

Funder: Heritage Lottery Fund

Helena Gray – Archaeology Scotland

(Source: DES Vol 19)