Archaeology Notes

Event ID 786698

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/786698

NT53SW 40.00 54706 34270

NT53SW 40.01 54655 34290 Stables

(NT 5470 3427) Harmony is a Regency house of three storeys and an attic, standing immediately W of Melrose Abbey. On plan it comprises an oblong main block running E and W and facing S. This was the original house. Two parallel wings have subsequently been added on the N, one on either side of the circled bay that contains the staircase.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 1947

NT 5470 3425 An archaeological watching brief in the grounds of Harmony Hall was carried out during the machine-excavation of service trenches as part of the renovation of the house and gardens, within the precinct of Melrose Abbey.

In the courtyard to the N of the hall, excavation revealed several substantial levelling deposits overlying a buried soil and a charcoal-rich ashy layer which contained a fragment of tile of probable medieval date. Two culverts, also likely to be medieval in date and potentially associated with the main monastic drain to the N, were also encountered.

In the garden area to the E of the house levelling and surfacing deposits from the paths overlay a deep topsoil. A number of stone features were also revealed. These included what are thought to be early 19th-century deposits associated with paths running to the N entrance of the house. An unmortared stone feature likely to represent the footings of a substantial stone wall running approximately N-S were encountered in the NE corner of the garden. Although undated this potentially pre-dates the development of a garden on the site.

Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland

T Holden 1998