Archaeology Notes

Event ID 704410

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/704410

NS66NW 17.01 60255 65657 Burial Ground (New Burial Ground)

(NS 6025 6557) Cath (NAT)

OS 6" map (1967)

Glasgow Cathedral (which is still in use) stands on the site of a monastery founded by St Kentigern in the 6th - 7th century. It was rebuilt, probably as a small cruciform church, and consecrated in 1136. Numerous extensions and rebuildings took place until the 15th century, when it assumed its present form.

C A R Radford 1970

A watching brief was carried out during excavation of a floodlighting track around the cathedral. Two sets of reburied skeletal fragments were found between the treasury and the sacristy. A small feature consisting of three stones mortared together and set on a clay soil was found on the N side of the building, opposite the stair tower of the N door. Most of the trench passed through disturbed levels, except at the E end of the cathedral, where it revealed the natural orange clay subsoil below topsoil.

Some slabs were lifted within the W doorway, and revealed a layer of rubble above some larger blocks. Part of the foundations of the butresses to the N and S of the door was also revealed. That on the S appears to be original, the N was rebuilt in the last century.

Sponsor: Friends of Glasgow Cathedral.

A Bailey 1992.

During the autumn and winter of 1992-3, extensive archaeological excavations were conducted in advance of the installation of a new heating and electrical system for the cathedral. Trenches were located where new ducts were to be installed below the floor in the Nave, the Choir, the Crypt and the Session Room. These trenches produced evidence for the construction of both the 12th-century cathedrals which preceded the present building. The early cathedrals were represented by in situ masonry and decorated fragments of masonry which had been reused in the 13th-century works. Traces of activity pre-dating the 13th-century were discovered in the W end of the Nave and important evidence was also recovered for the internal divisions of the post-Reformation use of the Nave.

Burials and stray human bones were found in the trenches dug in the Lower Church and the Nave. In total 77 burials were excavated, most of which can be reasonably well dated as well as hundreds of losse bones, which may be of any age. In the Lower Church no features relating to the site of St Mungo's tomb were found and most of the burials date to the early 19th century. In the Nave, burials were found which pre-date the 12th century structures and continued at irregular intervals to the 19th century.

Apart from the architectural fragments and coffin fittings, finds were scarce. The most significant artefactual discovery consisted of two massive medieval bronze martars and an iron pestle which had been deposited in a pit in the Lower Church.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

S T Driscoll 1993

A small-scale excavation was carried out by GUARD in the NW corner of the Session Room in Glasgow Cathedral in October of 1993 in advance of the installation of a new electrical control board, consisting of three small trenches. The main trench was effectively an extension of the one which was opened in the 1992/93 season of work in Glasgow Cathedral (supra), and ran the length of the Session Room. Human remains were uncovered comprising five interments, four of which were excavated, which appeared to be contemporary with most of those recovered during the previous excavation i.e. early 19th century. Two additional trenches were dug in the kitchen area and the corridor which runs from the rear Session Room door to the door leading to the exterior of the Cathedral on the N. No features were visible in these trenches or the main trench other than the burials.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

M [J] Richmond 1994

NS 602 655 A number of trenches were excavated to the N and E of the cathedral for the installation of CCTV cables and phone lines. Due to the sensitivity of the area a watching brief was undertaken and the following information was recorded.

Trench 1 was within the graveyard towards the NE corner. The soil was mixed and contained a number of fragments of disarticulated human bone. Two sandstone plot dividers were also found.

Trench 2 was outwith the graveyard and ran parallel to the E wall. A number of disarticulated human bones were unearthed. An articulated human skeleton (aligned W-E), an infant's skull and a fragmented adult skull were all recovered. Iron fittings were also located, possibly the remains of coffin fittings.

Sponsor: Glasgow City Council.

L H Johnstone 1997

Scheduled as Glasgow Cathedral, precinct and graveyard.

Information from Historic Scotland, scheduling document dated 20 November 2002.

NS 602 655 A watching brief was undertaken in May 2004 during the excavation of four test pits within the western graveyard, in an area previously disturbed during earlier phases of work along the northern elevation (DES 1993, 82).

The purpose of the test pits was to track the main gas pipe from the cathedral to the junction box on the boundary wall. Although this area had already been greatly disturbed, it was thought likely that human remains would be uncovered. Although not clearly identifiable as human, bone fragments were frequently encountered.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: HS.

C Shaw 2004

NS 6020 6556; NS 6024 6555 Two small trenches were excavated at Glasgow Cathedral in February 2005 in advance of

works to install lift machinery, the first situated at the eastern end of the S transept and the second at the western end of the nave, at the base of the main entrance. Both trenches reached a maximum depth of 0.4m.

The trench in the S transept revealed human remains, the distribution of which suggested they had been redeposited in an unceremonial manner. The origin of these remains is unknown, but it is thought likely they would originally have been buried within the cathedral grounds. In the trench at the main entrance, two possible graves with in situ human remains were partially revealed.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: HS.

S Hogg and C Shaw 2005

NS 602 655 Four periods of work required monitoring and recording at Glasgow Cathedral between February and September 2006. As part of a staged survey of the external elevations, the E elevation was drawn, photographed and recorded. The work was intended to complete existing survey data and to identify significant archaeological features. To this end, all relevant alterations and repairs to the monument, both historical and recent, as well as records of original architectural details, were completed.

Flooring slabs were removed in three separate areas on the northern and southern side of the lower church. The slabs were lifted to assess the thickness of the slabs and the underlying ground conditions and also to allow cables to be laid to provide power to the lights on the handrails. At the base of each of three sets of stairs, secure fixing points were required to bed the handrails and where possible small foundation pads were to be excavated to accommodate these.

The first trench was on the northern side of the lower church at the foot of the steps from leading from the treasury. This area was of particular interest as most of the area concerned had not been disturbed. In this trench a possible grave marker with an E-W alignment was seen. The slabs in the other two trenches (at the NE corner of the lower church at the base of the stairs near the chapter house, and at the SE corner of the lower church) clearly had been lifted and re-set during the excavation and installation of the heating system in the 1990s.

We recorded a gargoyle and its setting after its removal from the SE corner of the cathedral. The gargoyle was carved from blond sandstone, now so heavily weathered that its form was unrecognisable.

Finally, paving slabs and cobbles outside the W and S doors were removed. A subsequent, shallow excavation in the area beneath the cobbles near the S door was monitored. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted and no finds were retained.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

Angus Mackintosh and Claire Shaw, 2006.