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Scottish Water Mains Renewal St. Margaret’s Hope South Ronaldsay, Orkney
Date 19 March 2015 - 16 February 2016
Event ID 1178744
Category Recording
Type Watching Brief
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1178744
ND 44568 93492 An archaeological watching brief was undertaken during water mains replacement works in St Margaret's Hope. All the excavations were within existing highways.
The watching brief provided a body of evidence which effectively established the general nature of the underlying deposits, indicating that much of the earlier development of the town took place on the lower ground close to the shoreline. The deposits exposed also showed that Front Road was built upon an area of reclaimed land, formed by dumped material, which extended the shoreline towards deeper water. These works were undertaken prior to the late nineteenth century.
The watching brief did indicate the potential for archaeological material to survive across the Site in isolated areas undisturbed by later activity. A number of culverts were exposed which related to the discharging of surface and domestic water into the sea. The presence of a large canalised watercourse running along the length of Cromarty Square was indicated by historic maps, though no evidence for this structure was identified during the archaeological monitoring. The works did identify two potential structures underlying Front Road which may relate to the town’s original seafront, prior to the dumping of material as part of the land reclamation scheme.
The Site is situated in St. Margaret’s Hope along Pier Road, Cromarty Square, Back Road and Front Road between National Grid references (NGR) ND 44539 93612, ND 44568 93492, ND 44804 93556 and ND 44854 93552. The Site comprises these highways within the town.
The current scheme of archaeological works represented the first scheme of archaeological monitoring to be undertaken along the shoreline underlying the built environment within St Margaret’s Hope. The watching brief provided a body of evidence which effectively established the general nature of these underlying deposits, but provided very little effective evidence of specific structures, activity or date. The watching brief did indicate, however, the potential for archaeological material to survive, though its survival is likely to be fragmentary, in isolated pockets, due to the extensive disturbance beneath the existing highway which has taken place over recent years.
Information from Oasis ID: orkneyre1-243332 (S. Bell) March 2016
