Archaeology Notes

Event ID 822246

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/822246

NO51NW 2.10 Centred on NO 51437 16581

The property of the Priory was likely enclosed from at least the 14th century, and the gatehouse known as 'The Pends' probably belongs to this earlier boundary. The existing wall probably dates to the 16th century when rebuilding work was undertaken throughout the priory and cathedral. According to Hector Boece, Prior John Hepburn, who died in 1522, ordered a wall to be constructed around the priory and its buildings following various repairs. Work on the new wall continued under his successor and nephew Prior Patrick Hepburn, as recorded by an inscription on a wall-tower: [P]RECESSORI[S] OP: POR: HIC PAT; HEPBVRN EXCOLIT EGREGIVS ORBE SALVT. ('Here the excellent Patrick Hepburn in his turn embellishes the work of his predecessor with a tower of 'fens'). (RCAHMS, 1933). In 1683, a total of sixteen towers were arranged along its length; thirteen remain standing and traces of a fourteenth can be traced on the ground. (J Gifford, 1992)

Information from RCAHMS (GJW) 18 April 2002

NO 515 165 Proposed remedial works for the stabilisation of the monastic boundary wall in the vicinity of the monastic reredorter were monitored in March 2001. The boundary wall presently defines an area of garden associated with post-monastic occupation during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was found to have slumped outwards due to two factors: the weight of imported soils on its N side, and the wall itself was very poorly founded. A slit trench was excavated against its S face and revealed infilled deposits associated with late monastic activity on the evidence of pottery retrieved. The area also featured at least one stone-capped drain of medieval date, which is probably linked to the great drain which serves the nearby reredorter. The latter was extensively restored and cleared during renovation work by the Marquis of Bute in the later 19th century, and consequently the precise contextual sequence between the fragment of drain identified and the infill deposits discovered in the slit trench was lost. The date of the boundary wall and its associated deposits remains unclear as they respect monastic divisions of the area to the S of the cathedral. Cartographic evidence suggests that this area was a service space, in turn linked with the established route to the harbour.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland

A Radley and G Ewart 2001