Archaeology Notes
Event ID 714440
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/714440
NT27SE 1.26 25165 73421.
The Great Hall (NR).
OS 25"map, (1953).
Great Hall: Built in the reign of James IV (15th and 16th century). Considerably restored in 1888, so that much of the building is consequently modern....(RCAHMS 1951). Built at the beginning of the
16th century... (J S Richardson and M Wood 1948).
Visited by OS(JLD) 23 October 1953.
(NT 2518 7342) No additional remarks.
Visited by OS(JLD) 29 December 1953.
As described in previous field report.
Visited by OS(SFS) 10 November 1975.
NT 2518 7342 Archaeological recording of the S-facing exterior elevation of the Great Hall at Edinburgh Castle was undertaken in July and August 1999, while scaffolding was in place as part of roof renovation works. A new elevation was prepared, accurate to within 50mm, and a total of 41 features were recorded. A detailed photographic record was also prepared. In addition, a range of early plans were consulted in order to place recorded features in a phasing scheme, and to identify whether the roof had been raised in the past.
The following successive building phases can be suggested as a preliminary interpretation:
Phase 1 Original features
It is assumed that the two phases of vaulting below the Crown Square level of the Great Hall are original features. No detailed survey was made of these structures, but obvious alterations and additions were observed. However, the presence of two levels of vault beneath the 16th-century hall is likely. As to original elements of the S wall itself, the openings at wall-walk level, and the masonry associated with them, have been assigned to this original period. The original fabric comprises crudely coursed yellow sandstone. Subsequent repointing has obscured the original bonding medium. The original fabric is now well worn, and has been replaced in places (especially in door and window surrounds) by new masonry. Another original feature is the corbel course beneath the wall-head walk. Although the crenellations at roof level have been altered, the basic layout, with a slightly projecting battlement carried on the sandstone corbels, appears to be an original feature. The large weepers within the corbel course are very worn, as are the corbels themselves, and these may also be an original feature.
Phase 2 Possible changes to the fenestration in the later 17th century, and the conversion to a barrack hall
An illustration by Slezer (late 17th century) appears to show a somewhat altered window pattern from that illustrated by Rothiemay a half century previously. It would appear that large windows may have been added at the W end of the S wall, lighting an interior which was, however, no longer open to the roofspace, having been floored out as a barracks during the 1650s. Subsequent changes to the S wall have removed the archaeological evidence of the changes drawn by Slezer.
A bog-house was butted onto the S wall exterior, and a window (perhaps one of those illustrated by Slezer) was narrowed to a doorway at Crown Square level to allow access to the new structure from within the hall. It would appear that the large windows which had formerly lit the open hall were retained for a period, as these openings appear to be illustrated in Tarrant's plans of the mid-18th century. As with Slezer's alterations, later renovations have removed the archaeological evidence for phase 3 features.
Phase 3 Barrack hall windows
At some point following the Tarrant survey, and pre-dating an 1885 illustration, eight new windows were opened in the S wall, some of which reused one of the reveles of an earlier opening. These windows better reflect the internal sub-divisions within the barrack hall. Traces of three of these windows survive today.
Phase 4 The 1889 restoration
The major alteration made during the 1889 restoration was the addition of the four large windows, lighting the once again open hall. Hyppolite Blanc, the architect responsible, also 'reinstated' the battlement walkway at vault level, and added the crenellated walkway at roof level, supported over the original corbels.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
A Dunn 1999
NT 2520 7345 The Great Hall. Samples from the hammer-beam roof returned a felling date of AD 1509. The opportunity was afforded to archaeologically record the timbers of the roof towards the E end of the structure.
Vaults beneath the Great Hall and Queen Anne Building. A programme of archaeological recording is ongoing within these vaults. The vaults are known to have served as barracks and prison accommodation, and there is some evidence to suggest that they are themselves secondary to the structure, the fabric of which may conceal evidence for an earlier building on this site. Of particular interest is the presence of much 18th-century graffiti on the walls and plasterwork of some of the vaults; this is being archaeologically recorded.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
A Dunn 2000
