Excavation

Date 13 April 2010 - 14 April 2010

Event ID 632889

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/632889

NJ 93732 66942 Prior to restoration work on the N range of Pitsligo Castle test pits were dug, on 13–14 April 2010, to examine the foundations. Four pits on the N side of the N range N wall showed that the wall had been built on boulder clay and bedrock at between 100 and 180mm below the present surface. A test pit inside the courtyard, by the S face of the S wall of the N range, revealed a stone drain running along the wall below a series of capstones. At least one of the capstones extended below the wall, suggesting that the drain was built before the wall, but possibly as part of the same episode of building, to stop water flowing from the courtyard

into the guest chambers of the N range. The drain had been re-lined with clay pipes in the 19th/20th century.

Reports: Aberdeenshire SMR and RCAHMS

Funder: Pitsligo Castle Trust

HK and JC Murray – Murray Archaeological Services Ltd

Information also from Oasis (mas1-113697) 23 January 2012