Archaeology Notes

Event ID 748702

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/748702

NS65NW 72 60832 56331

NS 6081 5636 Excavation was undertaken of an area around the in situ remains of an iron horse gin used for powering the threshing mill in the barn at Wester Kittochside Farm. The gin is positioned just to the NW of the barn, between it and a later structure, and was unenclosed. The gin was probably installed in the 1860s but had gone out of use by the 1890s.

An area 8m long SW-NE by 6.5m wide was excavated around the central wheel of the gin. This revealed a partially preserved cobbled surface, 5.5m in diameter and about 1m wide, around which the horses would have walked. The central iron-toothed wheel was c 1.35m in diameter and sat on a central spindle in a shallow, circular, stone-lined pit. This wheel pit was around 0.15m deep and had large flat stones along the base. The edge of the pit was also faced with stones. A small cog wheel was uncovered below the teeth of the main wheel on the SE side. This was attached to an iron drive shaft that was at least 3.7m long and ran into the barn to power the threshing machine. The gully along which the drive shaft ran was covered with a large sleeper beam (possibly a railway sleeper) and was built of two courses of brick on a base of slates. One brick was clearly marked with the name 'ADAM RUTHER'.

The iron drive shaft had been built in three lengths jointed at two collars and was held in place by an iron bracket. On removal of the soil from the base, and with a certain amount of persuasion by a blacksmith, the main wheel was able to turn. In due course the NMS hope to completely restore the gin and threshing mill to working order.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsors: NTS, NMS.

D Alexander, M Miller 2003

NS 6083 5633 A ground resistance survey of four 20 x 20m squares was made in the area surrounding Wester Kittochside Farm. Three of the squares were to the front of the 1780s farmhouse, one to the S and two to the W, and one square was to the N of the farm buildings. No features were found in the area immediately to the S of the farmhouse (approx one 20m square), and of the two squares to the W of the farmhouse, the two high resistance anomalies were considered to be associated with the underlying geology. The resistance readings for the square to the N of the farm buildings were also affected by the proximity of the volcanic rock on which the farm was built. However, one high resistance area, approximately 7m square, in front of the Dutch Barn, might indicate the presence of a former building.

Sponsors: NMS, NTS, Edinburgh Archaeological Field Society.

ACM Calder, 2006.