Excavation

Date 1999

Event ID 1180552

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1180552

NS 9982 8175 Following on from an initial season of work in 1998 (Ewart 1998), a keyhole excavation was completed of parts of the building; the trenches also served to allow the site engineers to assess sub-surface conditions prior to further engineering works being undertaken. The work was carried out in February 1999.

Dymock's Building is located in the historic centre of Bo'ness, occupying a rectangular area, fronting onto North Street on the E, with Scotland's Close on the W and a car park to the N. This occupies an area of reclaimed ground that used to be the old harbour basin before the coming of the railway. The south-eastern edge is abutted by a 19th-century tenement building.

Four trenches were excavated where areas of flooring had been lifted prior to the start of the project. The two separate programmes of archaeological recording and excavation have resulted in the following phasing of Dymock's Building:

Pre-Phase 1 Pre-mid-17th century

No structural evidence survived from this phase of activity. However, the recent excavations have brought to light evidence of activity pre-dating the earliest elements of the current building.

The identification during excavations of a deep deposit of apparently industrial waste, underlying the base of the E wall, and similar material exposed in a disturbance below the N gable, suggests the use of the site as a manufactory prior to the construction of the earliest part of the complex.

Phase 1 Early to late 17th century

The core structure for what became a complex combination of domestic and service elements by the mid-18th century appears to have been a rectangular range on at least two levels. At present the degree of alteration and sub-division of the property has made any detailed description of this primary element very difficult. It seems likely, however, that all subsequent uses of the plot, and indeed its extension some time c 1700 (Phase 2) were a response to the more specialised needs of the household, whether to create a separate sub-tenancy or to accommodate a wide variety of social, domestic and commercial requirements.

Phase 2 Late 17th to early 18th century

The property appears to have become a three-storey T-shaped building incorporating the Phase 1 range with the addition of a N jamb and a southward extension.

Phase 3 Early 18th to late 18th century

A probable lean-to two-storey structure was erected in the angle to the N of the jamb and the range, as well as the erection of the NE stair tower/annexe, and the raising of the roof level and attic floor. This seems likely to have taken place at the time the property was disponed to Robert Gregorie in 1714. In this document the N-S measurement of the property is given as 96 feet, which corresponds to the distance from the S gable to the N wall of the courtyard. In 1698 the N-S dimension is given as 80ft, and also in 1794. At present, this may be explained as an extension to the original plot during Phase 2, and its subsequent sub-division as a separate tenancy by 1794. A fine wood-panelled dining room, with buffet niche, was built during this phase.

Phase 4 Mid-19th century

The hip-roofed building at the SW angle of the range and jamb was inserted. It may be as late as 19th century in date, but is earlier than 1855 as it is shown on the 1st edition OS map.

Phase 5 Mid-19th century-1955

The building was under tenanted occupancy up to 1955, and various fittings and furnishings survive from this period.

Phase 6 Post-1955

This phase sees the total demolition of the N wall of the jamb, partial demolition of the rest of the jamb and of the NW wing. Most of the brick infilling of doors and windows should date to this time, along with the raising of the floors with concrete, insertion of the present stairs and all plasterboarding. The pantile roof and the secondary crowsteps were removed, as were the chimney stacks from the Phase 1 S gable chimney, and the internal flue at the junction of the range and the jamb. The cement asbestos roofing was put in place during this phase.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that a painted panel (Phase 3) survived above the dining room fireplace until the mid-1950s. It is likely that various fixtures and fittings, such as the doors exposed behind the plasterboard removed on the first floor, remain to be discovered.

Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland

J Triscott, P Sharman and A Dunn 1999