Archaeology Notes

Event ID 731601

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/731601

NY49NE 5.00 49675 96047

(Centre: NY 4967 9604) Hermitage Castle (NR) (Remains of)

OS 6" map (1916-49).

NY49NE 5.01 NY 496 960 Miscellaneous Finds

REFERENCE: Scottish Record Office

Rough Sketch of ruins GD104/262 ND

EXTERNAL REFERENCE:

National Library of Scotland

Country Life

July 16, 1948. Page 126 - Article and photographs

(Undated) information in NMRS.

NY 496 960 The cutting of channels for drainage pipes over the track leading to Hermitage Castle was monitored. Although the area to be monitored was not within the immediate area of the surviving castle, the extensive earthworks around the castle, which makes use of a defensive earthworks c 400m to the W, and a possible settlement beyond this, all indicate that the general area is of great archaeological interest.

Following the work, the date and nature of the track is still essentially unclear, but the deposits disturbed are likely to date after the restoration of the monument, to the 19th and 20th centuries. No deposits of archaeological interest were disturbed by the excavation of the drainage channels.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

P Sharman 1999

NY 4967 9604 A watching brief was maintained in February 2006 while a foundation pad was excavated for the forthcoming installation of access stairs within the property. The interior of the castle has been subject to some modern alteration to ground levels. This could be seen in the re-deposited gravelly clay which dominates this area of the castle. The exposed masonry seen has no archaeological significance and is merely the remains of a previous footing for an earlier wooden staircase.

The depth of the trench was not sufficient to encounter any underlying archaeological deposits.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland.

Claire Shaw, 2006.