Watching Brief

Date 17 January 2019 - 11 April 2019

Event ID 1172044

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1172044

HY 44923 10958 An archaeological watching brief was carried out in Kirkwall town centre during works to replace road and footway surfaces. The works were undertaken as part of the Kirkwall Townscape Heritage Initiative project, a five-year heritage-based grant scheme which seeks to deliver sustainable improvements to the built heritage of the Kirkwall Conservation Area. The groundworks exposed a series of masonry-built structures in plan, 0.6m to 0.7m below the current roadway of Castle Street in an area measuring 15.6m long and between 6.0m and 8.6m wide. These were regarded as the remains of Kirkwall Castle. A potential curtain wall, at least 2.5m thick was exposed at one end of the trench, with a dressed stone face and rubber core, all mortar bonded. A second wall, at least 1.2m thick, ran parallel to this at the other end of the trench. Between these two walls further stone-built structures, of a similar build, were exposed in plan. The further excavation of the structures was limited in order to avoid undermining the integrity of the new road surface. Analysis of recovered artefacts and ecofacts is still to be undertaken.

Information from Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA).