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Watching Brief
Date April 2007
Event ID 556862
Category Recording
Type Watching Brief
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/556862
NX 445 402 A watching brief was maintained during the excavation of service trenches in Whithorn in April 2007. The town itself is of great archaeological and historical significance as the site of the earliest Christian monastery in Scotland and a thriving medieval burgh, and was an important focus of pilgrimage both historically and into the present day. The trenches had the potential to affect significant archaeological deposits. Part of the work was undertaken in accordance with scheduled monument consent. The trenching was divided into four areas; Areas 1-3 had high potential and were monitored by Headland, while Area 4 had low potential and groundworks were monitored by the Whithorn Trust.
Areas 1 and 2 were at the medieval centre of the town, next to the early Christian site and the old pilgrim road; Area 3 was next to the former entrance or 'port' site at the S end of the medieval town. The trenches in Area 1 revealed a single, possible waterlogged deposit, heavily truncated by modern service trenches. This probably represented periodic waterlogging in a poorly drained area. The extreme eastern end of the trench encroached into the scheduled area, but no features or deposits with archaeological potential were encountered. Area 2 contained the partial remains of a mortared and cobbled road surface of probable post-medieval date immediately below the modern road surface. The Area 3 trenches were completely devoid of any potential archaeological features and the modern road surface immediately overlay the natural bedrock. No further features or deposits of archaeological significance were identified during the course of the watching brief.
Report and archive to be deposited with RCAHMS. Report deposited with Dumfries and Galloway SMR.
Funder: Scottish Power Systems Ltd.
