2012 RCAHMS Special Survey
In March, RCAHMS undertook a 1:500 survey of the monastery and church complex at St Blane’s [NS05SE 5] at the south end of the Isle of Bute. Undertaken in partnership with the Discover Bute Landscape Partnership Scheme (DBLPS) and with the co-operation and permission of Historic Scotland who manage the site, the survey sought to record all the features within the scheduled area prior to proposed excavation. In addition to recording a number of previously unrecorded features, including buildings, enclosures, quarries and cultivation remains, the survey brought to light several issues concerning existing interpretation. A summary report on the survey is available as a pdf attached to the Canmore records for the site.
Also in March, a survey was started to upgrade the record of King Edward Castle [NJ75NW 1], a little-known 13th century fortress of the Comyns in Aberdeenshire. Built on a 28m high rocky promontory on the north bank of the King Edward Burn, the site is not a motte as previously described, but a courtyard castle that makes use of strong natural defences. It is defended by a ditch 24m broad and 8m deep on the NW and by steep natural drops on all the other sides, creating a level area some 55m by 40m in extent. The lime-mortared curtain wall on the NW has been heavily robbed, but surviving features include fragments of an external talus at the base of the wall, a drawbar slot at the ruinous entrance, and a north corner tower which stands in part to second floor height. The buildings of the castle were arranged around a courtyard that narrows towards the SE, and include a great hall on the NE (probably on the first floor), two other buildings (on the SE and SW respectively) and possibly a large tower block on the NW, robbed for the most part to its foundations. Although nothing was identified during the survey to suggest occupation of the site later than the 14th century, a reused, quirked roll-moulding was found in the walls of a small mill building beside the old bridge immediately to the E.
In April, a survey of the small fort on Trusty’s Hill [NX55NE 2], Gatehouse of Fleet, was carried out in advance of excavation there by the RCAHMS project partners, the Galloway Picts Project. The survey produced two outcomes: a 3D terrain model of the hill with the fort on its summit, and a traditional hachure plan of the fort that reflect the interpretation of the archaeological remains in their topographical setting.
In the autumn, survey was undertaken on Lewis to map and to make a detailed plan and section drawings of a well-preserved example of a beehive shieling-hut at Airigh A’Sguir [NB12SE 1]. Analysis of the structure has shown that the corbelled roof was constructed with locally derived schist slabs above a thick basal wall, and that the roof also once supported an outer turf layer, with a central aperture allowing smoke to escape the interior. The entrance comprises a low lintelled opening through which people were obliged to crawl to gain entry to an interior characterised by a number of aumbries set into the thickness of the wall.
RCAHMS (DES 2012, 195-6)
