Archaeological Evaluation
Date 1 July 2021 - 22 September 2021
Event ID 1138612
Category Recording
Type Archaeological Evaluation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1138612
NR 62835 20673 An evaluation was carried out prior to the building of a new fish hatchery complex at Lossit Point, Machrihanish (Canmore ID: 348773) which lies in a landscape of high archaeological potential. A desk-based assessment and walkover survey had previously been completed (DES Volume 21, 21–2). The construction of the fish hatchery will affect the site of the Wireless Radio Station at Lossit Point, which was constructed between 1905 and 1906. The station, along with a similar facility built at Brant Rock, Massachusetts, USA, took part in the first wireless communication transmissions across the Atlantic. The work was the brainchild of Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, who has been named ‘The Father of Radio Broadcasting’.
The evaluation was carried out in July to September 2021 and included excavation and detailed recording of the remains of the engine house, along with an initial trial trench evaluation within the backfilled water tank, and a watching brief during ground stripping for the site of the proposed bell mouth access to the fish hatchery complex. The evaluation of the concrete structures forming the engine house revealed a significant number of features including the mountings and associated structures for the boiler, steam engine, and complex sending equipment. Some areas of the site revealed deep, backfilled features associated with water management and drainage at the site including a stone- lined soakaway that received wastewater from the boiler, steam engine, and general drainage for the engine house. The backfill of these features produced sherds of ceramic and glass that were probably used at the station, while the backfill of the soakaway produced a fragment of one of the wire braided stays for the main antenna/mast at the site, a coupling/fixing for one of the wire stays, fragments of ceramic isolators, and fragments of the steel mast itself.
A trial trench excavated within one corner of the water tank
on site, located to the SW of the engine house, produced a significant number of finds including glass bottles, ceramic sherds, fragments of ceramic isolators, capacitors, and a wide array of metal objects including tin food cans, buckets, fragments of farm machinery, and a steel bath. These objects were embedded in coal fuel waste from the boiler located in the engine house. While it is obvious that some of the objects recovered from the water tank are contemporary with the use of the wireless radio station, it is also clear that the water tank has been used for the wider deposition of materials from the surrounding farms and settlements.
Although the Fessenden wireless station has been reduced to its concrete foundations, the site retains a number of significant features relating to its design and layout. The only blueprints relating to the use of the site are for the main antenna/mast and the more delicate equipment associated with the wireless operations at the site. The evaluation of the engine house and water tank have therefore provided valuable information relating to the construction of the station and materials relating to its use. Archive: West of Scotland Archaeology Service HER and NRHE
Funder: MOWI (Scotland) Ltd
Steven Birch – West Coast Archaeological Services
(Source: DES Vol 22)
