Archaeology Notes

Event ID 689565

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/689565

NO50SW 13 5028 0095.

(NO 5027 0094) Souterrain (NR) (site of)

OS 1:10000 map (1973)

Howie, commenting on the discovery of Ardross I (the souterrain noted on NO50SW 12) in 1878, says: "This is not the house we were in search of, which several persons in Elie had been in, but another one, by them unknown until the end of last week. This is corroborated by the Rev W Wood, who adds "In 1787 the plan of an underground structure discovered on the lands of Elie was sent to the Society of Antiquaries. The place where the structure was found is well known. It has been opened several times since, and is precisely on the highest point of the field, in the closest proximity to the sight (sic) of the present discovery (NO50SW 12)."

In view of this local testimony, it would appear that there are two souterrains, this one being that referred to by Pococke in 1760: "There are several Mounts about this country...There is such a one...called Elly Law, near it they found a passage under the ground going first straight forward, then as a segment of a circle, and again in a line leading to an oval apartment".

It was full of a rich black earth. There were no bones or anything else in it. Pococke's (1760) description confirms Wood's statement that this souterrain was very like NO50SW 12.

The plan noted by Wood is not indexed and cannot be found at the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS) (information from A S Henshall, NMAS).

F T Wainwright 1963; C Howie 1878

(NO 5027 0094) Souterrain visited and plotted 21 April 1951. Site only.

Information from F T Wainwright, 28 October 1955.

Apart from a stone concentration encountered during ploughing, there is now no trace of this souterrain. The field was under crop at the time of investigation.

Visited by OS (DWR) 29 May 1974