Excavation
Date March 2006 - August 2006
Event ID 550428
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/550428
ND 378 549 The 2006 season (March - August) at Castle Sinclair Girnigoe completed the archaeological excavation of the W Range and courtyard, carried out in two phases between March and August. A programme of public archaeology involved further excavation in the area of the W Barbican. Work continued in the W Range, and saw the complete excavation of rubble deposits from the room previously identified as the Porter's Lodge (DES 2005). The Outer Bailey courtyard was fully excavated, and the natural bedrock surface exposed. The slate bedrock naturally breaks down into gravel after continued exposure, which is likely to have provided the original ground surface. Work in the Courtyard provided new information on structural arrangements around the N and W Ranges. Evidence for pad stones provided further indication of the presence of timber posts, which would have supported a first floor gallery, accessed via a stone staircase which has now been fully exposed in the northern corner of the courtyard.
The excavation of a larger area over the W Barbican by volunteers exposed a sequence of stone-built features. A dry stone boundary wall of post-medieval date was encountered, running around the external edge of the dry moat. This overlay a stone slab pathway, which sloped into the dry moat itself; this feature has also been assigned a post-medieval date, and may have been installed by fishermen to provide access to the shore. This path had cut into a stone wall, running roughly N-S, which has been interpreted as structural evidence relating to the W Barbican. Associated occupation deposits abutting the wall were defined but not excavated.
Excavations at Castle Sinclair Girnigoe have produced a large quantity of architectural stone, primarily red sandstone detail from oriel windows, which has now been recorded.
Post-excavation work is ongoing, and a report is to be lodged with the NMRS.
Sponsor: Clan Sinclair Trust.
Archaeology Specialists Ltd 2006
