Archaeological Evaluation

Date 25 April 2022 - 6 May 2022

Event ID 1161688

Category Recording

Type Archaeological Evaluation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1161688

NT 27407 76496 A Level 3 historic building survey was carried out of the former early/mid-19th-century gasworks site and related buildings together with an evaluation within a plot of land proposed for development at Nos 1–5 Baltic Street and Nos 7–27 Constitution Street, Leith. The works took place from 25 April to 6 May 2022.

The remains of the gasworks buildings at Nos 1–5 Baltic Street consist of several buildings all of which (bar one) date to the original phase of the c1830s gasworks, albeit with some later extensions. The change of use from a gasworks site in the early 20th century into a sawmill and timber yard saw the blocking of many features and the demolition of some of the gasworks buildings which occupied the centre of the site. Later in the 20th century, the site was used as warehouses related to the former scrapyard at Constitution Street, and nearly all openings other than the main ingress points were blocked with brick. A building to the NE of the site, which was once a retort house and then a sawmill, was converted for vehicle storage.

The site at Nos 7–27 Constitution Street was once occupied by an 18th-century naval yard, then the coal stores related to the gasworks from the 1830s, then (in the later 19th century) by a large five-storey L-shaped granary building with offices to the S. These were demolished in the late 20th century leaving only a single- storey boundary wall to Constitution Street and an open yard, which was most recently used as a scrapyard operated by Daltons. A naval crest in a keystone of one of the blocked arched openings suggests that the walls of the naval yard may have been re-used in the later buildings.

While severely limited in relation to its original parameters, the evaluation, which saw the excavation of two trenches in the E car park, has successfully determined that there is a good level of preservation of the former gasworks buildings that dominated the E of the site. The walls exposed were related to the coal sheds located in the interior yard, which were cleared away in the late 20th century. Although no trenches could be excavated in the W side of the site, it is likely that there are remains of the former buildings here, which include the buildings to Constitution Street as noted on the 1971 OS map (Nos 7–27). In the late 19th century, these buildings consisted of a granary (Bruce Boyd & Co) and related offices. There may also be surviving evidence of the former 18th-century naval yard.

Archive: NRHE (intended) Funder: Circle Developments

Diana Sproat and Robert Usher – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Volume 23)