Excavation
Date March 2008 - November 2008
Event ID 578214
Category Recording
Type Excavation
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/578214
ND 3779 5490 Four sessions of fieldwork were undertaken, from March–November 2008, continuing the excavation of the Outer Bailey. In the first session the NE tower of the N range was excavated. Rubble collapse was removed, the work being halted upon contact with the mid-17th-century deposits associated with Commonwealth troops’ use of the castle. The basement room was shown to have been furnished with a fireplace with storage cupboards on either side. A connecting staircase linking the tower with an adjacent lodging to the W was also revealed.
The east quadrant of the Outer Bailey and the basement level passageway were excavated during the second
session, revealing two areas of slate flagstone floors and the foundations of structures belonging to the earliest layout of the Outer Bailey.
During the third session rubble collapse from the bakehouse was excavated from the S range. This revealed a bee-hive shaped bread oven with collapsed roof and integral door opening and a slate flagstone floor beneath Commonwealth midden deposits. Excavation of the upper levels of the gatehouse lodgings was completed and an architectural stone bearing the cockerel emblem of the Sinclair family was recovered from the rubble. This may have been set in an internal wall in the gatehouse lodgings or represent a boss from a vaulted ceiling.
During the fourth session excavation of the stair turret revealed two intact flights of stairs beneath rubble collapse deposits including an under stair area. The original doorway into the ground floor gatehouse lodging was revealed with the southern jamb still furnished with its red sandstone quoins, with niches for door locks and bolts.
Archive: Post-excavation work is ongoing, and a report is to be deposited with RCAHMS
Funder: Clan Sinclair Trust
Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd, 2008