Excavation
Date 1 November 2017 - 31 May 2018
Event ID 1121415
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1121415
Following previous evaluation work in 2014 and 2015, excavations at Kings Stables Road identified the remains of buildings mostly relating to the 19th century development of the site. In Area 1 the earliest remains can be related to the use of the building for the police stables (NT27SE 2042.03), which can be dated to 1874 by means of architectural plans. However, it must be noted that the footprint of the building, including the dimensions of the internal courtyard, conforms to the disused slaughterhouse (NT27SE 2042.00) depicted on the 1854 Town Plan. Therefore, it is likely the building was merely refurbished in 1874. The second phase in Area 1 relates to the building’s use by the Department of Lighting and Cleansing, which had taken over the premises sometime after 1951. Area 2 had seen the most change. Most of the later changes can be directly related to the 1854 Edinburgh Town Plan, however, the function of the buildings are not shown on the map. At some point prior to 1876 the buildings in the courtyard were demolished and new buildings (NT27SE 6247) were constructed along the southern boundary of the site with associated police yard. Building conversions carried out by the Edinburgh Council Lighting and Cleansing department resulted in the buildings which were present on the site prior to demolition. There were a large number of tanneries depicted on the 1854 Edinburgh Town Plan bordering the south of the development site. King’s Stables Lane was previously named Tanner Street on Kincaid’s 1784 map. The large quantities of horn and occasional fragments of leather recovered from deposits within Area 2 are indicative of the by-product of the tanning process. Therefore, the cattle were being slaughtered on site and their hides were then being tanned in the tanneries close by. The identified remains within Area 4 can be directly related to the 1854 Town Plan. The two north-south aligned walls (1018 and 1047) represent the remains of the large trapezoidal building depicted on the town plan. It is likely that the well (1007) belonged to this phase as well as it was located within an area which was shown as an open courtyard in the 1854 Town Plan. The project archive, comprising all CFA record sheets, maps and reports, will be deposited with Historic Environment Scotland and copies of reports will be lodged with the City of Edinburgh Council Sites and Monuments Record.
Information from Gary Savory and Oliver Rusk (CFA Archaeology Ltd) September 2019. OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-332068
