Excavation

Date 10 February 2005 - 10 March 2005

Event ID 858528

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/858528

NJ90NW 1441 NJ 941 062

NJ 941 062 The church of St Nicholas (NJ90NW 1441) is first noted in a papal bull of Pope Adrian IV in 1157, but that church may have had an earlier foundation date. A new choir was built in the late 15th century and was rebuilt in 1837 as the East Kirk, but burned down in 1874 and re-opened in 1876. Prior to a possibleredevelopment, five trenches were excavated in February and March 2005 to determine the quality and quantity of archaeological deposits; the trenches reached a maximum depth of 3.5m.

12th to 15th century.

An exterior cobbled surface (associated with 12th- to 14th-century pottery) was uncovered inside the footprint

of the 15th-century church, indicating that the 12th-century church was substantially smaller than its replacement. A burial under this cobbled surface was left unexcavated.

15th century.

The walls of the 15th-century church, constructed of sandstone ashlar blocks covered with plaster, were uncovered.

They had been slighted and used as a footing for the 19th-century building. In one trench a 19th-century pillar base was excavated to its base; this is probably also the base for a pillar associated with the 15th-century church, re-used in the 19th century. Vaulted rooms were located on the N side of the church; unknown prior to the

excavation, they were probably accessed from St Mary's Chapel (on the level below the area of the current floor of the East Kirk). These vaulted rooms have not yet been investigated.

15th to 17th century.

Several burials of this date were excavated, including an area in one trench which contained the burials of

several babies and young children. This area, on the S side of the choir adjacent to the church wall, was probably set aside for the burial of the young - as at Aberdeen Carmelite Friary.

17th and 18th centuries.

Several well-preserved burials were excavated, including one of an older adult male within a wooden

coffin, face down and with his left hand behind his back. This individual was probably wrapped tightly in a shroud as the hands had eventually fallen together between the femora. Subsequently, a baby had been buried near his feet and then re-used gravestones (dated 1664 and 1666) were used to seal this grave. Another trench contained two burials, one on top of the other in the same grave cut. The later burial had crushed the top of the skull of the underlying burial, uggesting that the upper burial may have been made as much as a few decades after the first. The earlier burial was of a

large and tall middle-aged male whose hair and skin were preserved, as well as portions of silk ribbon. The ribbon was bunched under the right shoulder, under the chin and over the top of the scalp, and a bunch gathered into an organised length of ribbon was positioned over the pelvis. Above this burial an elderly female had

been buried, whose bones were poorly preserved, although the wood of the coffin top had preserved the hair. Coffins, hair, wool and silk were very well preserved in all the burials of this period. The coffins were constructed of planks with tongue-and-groove joints and well-preserved iron grips (handles). The coffin of the large male burial had two sets of C- and D-shaped grips as well as iron corner plates.

Early 19th century. Up to 1m of loose loam, with a large amount of disarticulated human bone, coffin wood and nails, was laid over the W half of the choir. It would appear that this had been brought in, possibly from the graveyard, to raise the level of this area (PSAS 1974, 242 for a similar layer in Collison's Aisle; see also DES 1990, 17). Two Scottish copper Bodles (twopence pieces) were found in this layer: one is of William & Mary (1691-4), and the other is of

William II of Scotland (1695-6).

Mid- to late 19th century.

Pillar bases and partition walls were excavated, which probably date to the 1830s when the choir was rebuilt.

20th century. Evidence of later activity included a layer of pitch poured under the floorboards in the 1930s, and alterations to form the Walker Room in 1986.

Full excavation of East Kirk will take place in 2006.

Archive to be deposited in NMRS.

Sponsor: Church of St Nicholas Uniting.