Archaeology Notes
Event ID 850875
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/850875
NS79SE 6.01 78996 94035
NS 7899 9403 In advance of extensive alteration and renovation at James V's Palace, detailed archival research and standing building recording were undertaken both within the Palace and in the adjacent Governor's Kitchen.
This project began with research into archival material relating directly to building work. The rich archive of Historic Scotland is being catalogued and scanned electronically. A baseline standing building recording exercise was completed prior to any intrusive works.
A small excavation was carried out outside the West Range in the raised grassed area against the S external wall of the Governor's Kitchen. A further excavation was completed at the base of the exterior W face of the Palace block. These two trenches showed evidence of residual structures apparently pre-dating the present Palace layout. It is thought that part of the West Range of the Palace (c 1538) collapsed during the later 16th century, and therefore it is possible that some of the structural remains identified in the excavations relate to this part of the Palace. However, survey work in the S and W sides of the Palace interior suggests that the Palace building programme after 1538 saw the recycling of several extant buildings. The forework of James IV and the Prince's Tower were effectively integrated with the Palace fabric on its S side, and it now seems likely that buildings to the W and E were incorporated within the eventual Palace design.
The relationship between the Palace and the early chapel identified beneath the Governor's Kitchen (DES 1998, 95-6) is still unclear, but it seems likely that the chapel was truncated when the Palace N and W ranges were constructed. Ongoing work includes a detailed survey of all floor joists in advance of dendrochronological analysis, and to identify evidence of how ceilings and floors were attached in the earliest Palace phase. There was considerable rebuilding and modification to the mid-16th-century Palace throughout the 17th century, and a full record of these changes is being compiled.
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: HS
G Ewart 2003
NS 789 940 In advance of an extensive programme of refurbishment within the Palace block in the castle, the entire complex was subject to a series of detailed archaeological analyses, including test trenching in the vaults below the W Range, S Range and E Range, as part of the broad programme of excavation on the Ladies Lookout (see DES 2003, 128).
The results of the fieldwork, both from the upstanding building analysis and the excavations, has demonstrated how much of the Palace of James V derived from an existing layout featuring complex ranges and courtyards. At this interim stage, the evidence suggests that the 1540s work saw the encapsulation of versions of a S Range, W Range and E Range within the James V quadrangular plan, which in turn recycled a courtyard area as the focus for the new plan, the Lion's Den.
All the earlier ranges were themselves complex developments of originally separate buildings, which were extended and merged during the reign of James IV. Both the E and W Ranges survived, in part at least, to second floor level within the new work. On the S side, the new work was built over the old S Range (which lost its upper floor(s) at this time), and met the extended face of the James IV Forework. The remaining gap between the early S Range and Forework was vaulted over to form the S Transe of the James V layout.
Outside the new quadrangle, the old chapel of St Michael, the Princes Tower and probably a kitchen were retained within the new layout as discrete specialised ancillary structures, augmenting the various formal, private and service functions of the four new ranges on three floors.
Some of the sequence of building and conversion which followed the 1540s building programme has also been revealed more clearly. This includes the wholesale remodelling of the W Range in the 1580s and conversions to the upper floor during the early 17th century, all on behalf of James VI. During the late 17th century, the Earl of Mar carried on the sub-division of the upper floor, raised the roof line and constructed a new stair from the Upper Square to the upper floor.
A phased programme of archaeological excavation was completed on the Ladies Lookout between April and December 2004.
The site lies W of the Palace block and S of the Governor's Kitchen, and presently comprises a two-gun battery along the outer curtain wall of the castle. The gun platforms and associated paved surface occupy a terrace lying up to 2m below two sloping grassed areas immediately adjacent to the W Range of the Palace and Governor's Kitchen.
Overall, the Ladies Lookout reflects two natural bedrock terraces, the lower of which is presently occupied by the gun platforms and the upper by the grassed areas. The following main periods of use and abandonment for the Palace were observed.
Period 1: 1480-1510. The natural bedrock terracing has dictated the scale and orientation of the outer walls at the SW corner of the inner castle defensive enclosure. The Palace, as built by 1542, lay within a wall line built from the break in slope between the two natural terraces. The resulting wall ran diagonally across the site and retained buildings at its southern and northern ends. At this stage these are identified as a probable kitchen block to the N, and the W end of a range of buildings at the S end. Both these structures are provisionally dated to the reign of James IV, and are associated with royal accommodation towards the SW corner of the castle enclosure, within the new Forework and S of the Upper Square.
Period 2: 1540-42. During the reign of James V, parts of the earlier layout were converted to form the W and S ranges of a new palace. In the Ladies Lookout this work included the probable kitchen, and saw the retention of the diagonal outer wall as the limit for the major buildings in this part of the site. However, a new outer wall with a distinctive curving alignment was built further to the W. It exploited the limits of the lowest natural rock terrace but appears to have been a revetting structure, and so most likely represents the extension of the available potential building/occupation area beyond the Period 2 limits of the site. It is not clear what function this new extension fulfilled, but it is likely that the retaining wall itself was much higher.
Period 3: 1585-1625. The W Range of the Palace was rebuilt and parts of both the kitchen and S Range were cleared away. This work was intended to upgrade the W Range for James VI in the 1580s, and also to rationalise the Palace plan after serious structural collapse, documented to the first quarter of the 17th century. The latter most likely refers to the outer rampart which was clearly reduced in height in Period 4.
Period 4: 1708-50. The need to create a wide gun battery at the SW corner of a redrafted defensive line saw the abandonment of the Period 1 diagonal wall line in favour of an irregular trace extending the earlier enclosure northwards. A new wall was constructed over the truncated Period 3 wall, to retain a massive dump of debris and soil, up to 7m deep, which formed the new artillery earthwork during the early 18th century. This battery featured two large gun platforms - one to the N and the other looking S. Elsewhere, a large ablution block was constructed against the face of the Period 3 Palace W Range.
Period 5: 1850-1900. The outer wall line was raised by some 3m and the gun platforms were reinforced. In addition, the ablution block was extended and new lavatories were built on the W rampart.
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: HS.
G Ewart and D Murray 2004
Kirkdale Archaeology carried out a series of excavations in the western areas of Stirling Castle, centred around an area known as 'Ladies Lookout'. Deep deposits of dumped and naturally accumulated layers were uncovered, a selection of which were sent to CFA Archaeology for analysis. The layers were found to contain pottery fragments, glass, animal bone, cereal remains, plant material, wood charcoal, coal and cinders.
M Hastie 2006
Standing building recording; excavation NS 789 940 Ladies Lookout This extensive excavation, between October 2004 and August 2005, covered the southern half of the open terrace known as the Ladies Lookout and was the second phase of work (DES 2004, 129-30). This area lies at the extreme SW corner of the present castle circuit and immediately W of the W range of the mid-16thcentury Palace block of James V. It also lies immediately S of the
17th-century Governor's Kitchen, itself built over the 12th-century remains of the Chapel of St Michael.
The area presently comprises three separate terraces, the lowest of which accommodates at least two gun positions firing S and NW. The other two terraces are the landscaped remains of a variety of building and landscaping programmes, dating primarily from the later 15th century and culminating in major works during the 19th century. These upper terraces were to a large extent excavated in the Ladies Lookout first phase of work, and revealed traces of a
kitchen immediately S of the present Governor's Kitchen to the N of the site. On its E side, evidence was found of the footings of what is probably an incomplete external stair of early 18th-century date, and the sequence of buildings known as the Ablution House, which was only demolished in the later 20th century. Beneath the latter, fragmentary traces of buildings of apparent 13th-and 14th-century date were also identified.
The most recent programme of work concentrated on the lower terrace, and was intended to shed light on the changes in the outer rampart line as well as add to the ongoing interpretation of the exceedingly complicated W gallery phasing. Removal of the later gun platforms revealed earlier/18th-century versions similarly placed, albeit within a possibly earthwork parapet. These in turn were laid over a colossal earthwork, which extended the effective limits of the site to its present alignment out over the steeply terraced bedrock of the castle rock at this point. However, below this horizon
was a further earthwork of 16th-century date, the function of which is still unclear but which also projected the natural line of the castle defences out to the W. Evidence of a timber structure was also picked up in the form of post-holes respecting the natural limit of the site, but which appear to be of late medieval date at the earliest.
The synthesis of the results of the Ladies Lookout excavation phases 1 and 2 is ongoing, but appears to show that the natural/ pre-16th-century limits of the site are represented by a line roughly commensurate with the E terrace later to receive the Ablution House, etc.
An extensive finds assemblage, of primarily late and post-medieval date, includes coins, pottery, glass and metal artefacts.
Standing building recording within Palace Block
This programme of work carried on from the 2003-4 survey and excavation within the Palace block (DES 2004, 129-30), and was undertaken in advance of necessary remedial work on the fabric of the building.
The upstanding building recording was concentrated primarily on the suite of rooms at the principal level. These comprise the royal apartments - with the King's chambers to the N of the quadrangle and the Queen's chamber on the S side. The E side contains the royal bedrooms, and the W comprises a gallery allowing access between the N and S ranges.
The main aim of the recording work was to form a comprehensive record of all significant elements within each chamber - doors, windows, fireplaces, etc., and also to retrieve any surviving details of the sequence of decorative schemes, partitions, and ceiling details, which have been removed in antiquity. The comprehensive repair and conversion programmes enacted on the royal apartments, in particular throughout the 18th and 19th centuries as they were converted to military use for the garrison, have removed much of the 16th-century details.
The quadrangular plan of the Palace, with occupation on two floors over a vaulted basement, dates from c 1542 and is the work of King James V. The new building was intended as accommodation for himself and his new queen, Mary of Guise. However, the results of the recent survey confirm that substantial elements of the present layout date from the reign of James IV and earlier. Essentially, the plan that James V devised was the integration of a series of buildings
grouped around a courtyard and within an outer rampart to create a regular plan following current European principles for a royal palace. It is now clear that the triple courtyard layout within Stirling Castle today is the result of a series of natural terraces in the bedrock, and they in turn have defined the limits of a series of enclosures over many centuries. The Palace of James V is built around the so-called Lion's Den, which was an open courtyard during the reign of James IV, defined by at least two separate structures on its E side: a range on two levels on its S side and a gallery-like range
on its W side. The 12th-century Chapel of St Michael defined at least part of this layout on the N side. These separate structures formed the basis for the Palace of James V, and one of the principal aims of the archaeological investigation was to identify residual and new build.
The removal of asbestos prompted monitoring work. All the rooms on the principal floor were affected, except the W range. Evidence of the sub-floor deposits and structures up to a depth of c 0.3m were recorded. The results showed how the latest floors of the principal apartments were constructed over dwarf walls, which featured recycled masonry from earlier paved surfaces. Artefacts retrieved include a child's shoe and a leather scabbard for a short sword or dirk-like weapon.
Archive to be deposited in NMRS.
Sponsor: HS.
G Ewart and D Murray 2005
