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Excavation

Date 20 June 2009 - 22 July 2009

Event ID 607778

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/607778

ND 1567 3035 The 20 June–22 July 2009 excavations suggested that the presumed monastery at Ballachly was

focused on the low-lying ground between Chapel Hill and the river, where a church and graveyard are marked on the 1st Edition OS survey map, 1872. It is believed that this was demarcated first by a ditch which made use of an earlier watercourse, and was subsequently filled in and replaced by a substantial stone precinct wall, possibly in the Norse period. However, Chapel Hill may have had an outlying association with the monastery, as the clearance at the W end suggested that there was a dry stone square building containing a feature composed of upright slabs with slab flooring. This is very tentatively identified as a baptistery, though other

interpretations are possible. A fragment of probably early medieval sculpture came from this structure. This building was subsequently twice extended, and a further insubstantial sub-rectangular structure was constructed to the E end of the hill, though no dating evidence is yet available for these buildings. In the later Middle Ages the enclosing wall was partially demolished, the ground behind being built up to provide a surface where ironworking was carried out. On top of this surface Wall A was built, though probably not before the 16th century. The evidence for later medieval and post-medieval activity on the site is presumed to relate to the establishment here of Magnusburgh, a burgh of barony documented in the early 17th century.

Trench IV This trench, initially excavated in 2008, was extended to an area 8 x 5m with the aim of examining the

nature of the wall encountered in 2008 and the associated overlying features. This wall had been found to be running at an angle to and below the foundation level of Wall A, one of the main visible features on the site. Excavation showed that this lower wall was not, as presumed in 2008, part of a building but was a well-constructed linear feature which survived to a height of up to four courses (c0.6m) and was on average 1m wide. It was built on a deposit of sandy silt which continued to be deposited after the wall had been erected.

In the light of GPR and other geophysical survey undertaken before the excavation, this deposit probably represented the filling of a ditch, the slope of which was very gentle in front of the wall but which GPR suggested was steeper at the bottom, and in which stones had been dumped. It is possible that this was in fact an old watercourse which was later enhanced to form a ditch. This feature mostly lay outside the excavated

area, where it was not possible to examine more than the top edge. It would seem, however, that a spread of stones had been used as a partial revetment on the top edge of this ditch, a feature previously noted when the ditch was encountered in Trench VI.

The wall appears to have been deliberately slighted, a dump of stones and gravel being used to bring the area

behind the wall up to the level of the old (mostly gravel) ground surface. This make-up is presumed to have been deposited when the wall was demolished to the level of the natural ground surface, back from the line of the ditch / watercourse, to bring the whole area to the same level. Some of the stones used behind the wall were very substantial. The largest may have been naturally deposited and pre-date the build-up, but one (1 x 0.9m) was clearly deposited by human agency, as there appeared to be disturbed material underneath it.

On the surface, there were shallow hearths both in front of and behind the line of the underlying wall, one 0.6m and one 0.3m in diameter, which had fill including late Norse and late medieval wheel-turned pottery, as well as charcoal. In the top of the make-up behind the wall was a roughly circular lump of clay, which appeared to be the displaced bottom of a furnace or hearth, fired to a considerable temperature then cooled slowly. It is presumed that this relates to the ironworking apparently conducted on the artificially levelled ground surface. Finds from this surface also included pre- Norse (late Iron Age) pot sherds, slag, and an iron (presumed late medieval) hinge. Radiocarbon dates derived from this occupation level in 2008 indicate activity in the 14th to 15th century.

The current interpretation of the general sequence of events is that the ditch, probably a recut watercourse, was used to define a monastic enclosure (a radiocarbon date from another section that went across it in Trench VI in 2008 suggested it was open around AD 1000), but that this was later replaced by a substantial stone wall following the line, demarcating the monastic area which must have lain to the W, between Chapel Hill and the river. Charcoal samples for radiocarbon dating have been obtained from the top of the silt on which the wall stands, and from immediately on top of the stones of the truncated wall, which should help to refine the date of its construction, currently presumed to lie somewhere between AD 1000–1400.

Trench V This was dug partly to see if what appeared as a cropmark in 1968 was an archaeological feature and to establish if the edge of the ditch extended this far E. There was no evidence for the ditch. At the W end, however, there was some evidence of human activity in the form of a piece of copper alloy waste material, which may be a possible sprue from a mould ingate, and small sherds of pre-Norse pottery.

Trench VI Extension It was apparent that while Trench VI had encountered the ditch, any features such as the

continuing line of the replacement wall lay immediately to the W of the end of the cutting. The Trench was therefore extended. Although much less well preserved at this point, the base of the wall was encountered, with a relatively level area between it and the ditch, about 1m wide. What appeared to be possibly a second, narrower wall (c0.5m wide) was built between the main wall and the ditch, about 0.3m from the main wall. At present, no explanation can be offered for this feature.

Trench VII Extension This trench, excavated in 2008, was extended W to an area 2 x 3m, since reconsideration

of the geophysical survey suggested there might be a wall, just beyond the limit of the 2008 excavation. This extension, however, indicated that this anomaly was caused by a natural deposit of stones, with no evidence for human activity, although pre-Norse pottery was found at the base of the overlying ploughsoil.

In addition to these trenches, two investigative trenches were dug outside the scheduled area, to see if there was evidence of human activity where geophysical survey suggested there was none.

Trench X This was dug (10 x 2m) on the platform at the base of Chapel Hill. Natural sand and gravel was recorded below the topsoil.

Trench XI This was dug (3 x 2m) to the N of Chapel Hill and N of Wall B. Ploughsoil extended unevenly to a depth

of about 0.3m, with naturally deposited sand, gravel and stones below. At its southern end there was evidence of an occupation level above the natural, indicated by charcoal and a fragment of possibly early medieval window glass.

Trench XIII This 2 x 2m sondage was dug at the base of Wall A, where it had been robbed to ground level, and

revealed that Wall A appears to have been built on the same occupation deposit that lay on top of the natural in Trench IV.

Chapel Hill – Trench XII Work on top of the hill involved clearance of tumble from an area coinciding with the putative ‘chapel’, 11 x 8m, and a second smaller area coinciding with a ‘circular’ feature noted in earlier surveys, 5 x 5m. These two areas were joined by a strip, intended possibly to indicate the association of both features.

The ‘chapel’ was a structure that had been modified at least twice, and for which the original interpretation seemed unlikely. At the W end of the hill a dry stone square structure had been built, 5.2 x 4.6m externally, with walls about 0.8m wide, with an entrance in the SE corner, 0.8m wide (Structure A). This entrance had a stone threshold slab, apparently overlying the cobbles on Structure B. Structure A survived to a height of about five courses, or 0.8m in height, and had a clay floor. Only the E sector of the building was cleared of tumble, but it was found that in the NE angle of the building a slab lined feature had been constructed, c2 x 1.5m, composed of upright slabs and with a slab floor. The largest of these uprights was about 0.4m long and 0.06m wide, and

rose to a height of c0.4m above the floor level. An incised fragment of sculpture was also associated with Structure A. This building’s E wall seems at some stage to have slumped, and was extended with a further dry stone annexe with a partially cobbled floor, enclosing an area about 2.5m across (Structure B). However, this structure was mostly not cleared of tumble.

A further extension to the building (Structure C) was c2.2m long and at least 2.6m wide, the E wall formed by the cross wall (Structure D, below) which overlay the cobbles, suggesting that this was itself a later addition. This annexe is of different construction to the structures to the W, involving the use of uprights, and it appears to have had a southern entrance. Although not cleared for its whole length, a crosswall (Structure D) about 0.4m high and 0.71m wide seemed to cross Chapel Hill, although only 2m was exposed. It was composed of stones of varying form up to 0.5m long and is set on cobbles to the W and on gravel to the E, clearly postdating

Structure C.

At the extreme NE end of the cleared area an insubstantial structure was encountered, slightly trapezoidal (Structure E), 2.86 by 1.2m (possibly up to 1.9m) internally (the end having been robbed out), comprising a single thickness of stones with up to three courses surviving. This appeared to be open at the NE (short) side, and its function and date are unknown, although in front was a line of what appeared to be paving.

Archive: Dunbeath Heritage Centre

Funder: Historic Scotland, HIE (CASE) and Strathmartine Trust

Lloyd Laing – University of Nottingham

People and Organisations

References