Trial Trench

Date 23 April 2007 - 27 April 2007

Event ID 557618

Category Recording

Type Trial Trench

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/557618

NT 2724 7595 A small-scale trial trench evaluation was carried out between 23-7 April 2007 on anomalies identified in a previous geophysical survey. The survey and evaluation was geared toward features identified from a contemporary map (the Petworth map) of the 1560 siege of Leith which was conducted by a combined Scottish and English protestant force against the French garrison of Leith.

The Links are traditionally associated with the siege through the presence of two mounds, which since the 19th century have been identified as the platforms for siege guns directed against the eastern face of the French citadel. The mounds, known as Giant's Brae and Lady Fife's Brae are protected as scheduled

ancient monuments.

Trenches 1-3 exposed ephemeral anomalies related to the twentieth century use of the Links. Trenches 4 and 5 revealed a linear, banked feature which in places had been truncated by earth-moving operations in the 19th century. This feature appears to correspond to a linear feature shown on the Petworth map and possibly connected to the mound known as Giant's Brae. The bank was constructed from heaped sand and a negative

feature, possibly a posthole, was cut into the edge facing the former citadel. The remains of a shallow ditch were located to the rear of the low bank and may represent a borrow pit related to its construction. Questions still remain about the bank's function; it may be an earthwork related to the siege of 1560 or earlier military activity, or it may be a raised trackway crossing wet ground or some sort of land division.

Archive deposited with RCAHMS, Edinburgh City Council.

Funder: Edinburgh City Council.