Excavation

Date 24 June 2010 - 26 July 2010

Event ID 880216

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/880216

ND 1567 3035 The final season of excavations on the medieval site at Ballachly was undertaken 24 June–26 July 2010 by a team from the University of Nottingham, with help from volunteers. The season saw the completion of work on the features on Chapel Hill and further excavation in the area to its W.

Trench XII–XIV

The area on Chapel Hill opened in 2009 (Trench XII) was partially reopened. Here a rectangular drystone building (Building A) partly excavated in 2009, was cleared down to floor level. There was no evidence for domestic occupation, which may indicate that it could have been ecclesiastical, possibly a baptistery. No dating evidence was recovered, but features of its construction (including floor of clay mixed with peat and stones pieces, and the slab-lined box-like feature investigated in 2009), would be in keeping with a Late Norse (probably 12th-century) date. This building had been extended, as was demonstrated in 2009, probably to form the longer structure documented as a ‘priest’s house’ in later accounts.

An extension to this trench was made W towards the edge of the summit of Chapel Hill, initially comprising an area 11 x 8m, and later extended to examine some features encountered within the area (Trench XIV). It was established that Building A, which had an approximate E–W orientation, was built partly on top of a large, cobbled area on a different axis, the cobbles being removed inside the structure but visible within the wall makeup. This cobbled area (10.4x 3.4m) was cambered to a central slab-lined culvert and extended to the edge of the hill. There is no evidence for its purpose, but it may have been for the collection of water, which considering the Early Christian evidence found nearby, could indicate a monastic function. Adjacent to it were two rectangular, slab-defined features (context 1421, 1.1 x 1.3mand context 1412, 1.1 x 1.2m), one of which (context 1421) displayed evidence for intense heat, suggesting its use as a hearth, possibly for metalworking. This was partly overlain by a stone wall. The second structure (context 1412) showed no evidence for burning, but it is probable that this was also a hearth and that such evidence was eroded, due to the thin topsoil covering this area. A further wall 1.6m long and of an unknown width, (context 1414) showed evidence of rotational collapse. There were other partial stone alignments suggesting a semi-circular feature adjacent to the probable hearths (context 1424, c1.4 x 1.6m), as well as what were interpreted as post-pads for timber structures (contexts1410 and 1411). Finds were extremely sparse but included fragments of ‘Pictish’ (Late Iron Age) pottery, compatible with the use of the summit in the early medieval period. The features found were comparable with those from other early monastic sites in Scotland, such as Portmahomack (Ross)and Inchmarnock and Kingarth (Bute). A number of worked flints were found which appear to be of Mesolithic date but could have been re-used at the site in the early and later medieval periods.

Trenches XV and XVI

Two sondages were dug in the area to the NW of Trench VI, initially 2 x 2m, of which one(XV) was subsequently extended by 1m S and 1 x 1m E, to form an L shaped sondage. These were intended to locate the chapel indicated on the 1st Edition OS map of 1872 but were unsuccessful in this, producing evidence for the early19th-century flooding which traditionally removed the chapel and associated burials. A piece of what appears to have been late medieval window glass was recovered in Trench XV and there was some evidence for the former existence of long-cist graves in Trench XVI, largely washed away, in the form of flat slabs.

Trenches XVIII and XIX

Further investigation of the ditch and enclosing wall, believed to have defined the second phase of the site, was undertaken to the SE of Wall A, between Wall A and Trench III (excavated in 2008). Trench XIX, which measured 2 x 2m, was found to be filled with deposited stones and gravel from the episodes of flooding. This was adjacent to the SW extent of Trench XVIII where the wall previously encountered in Trench IV had been reduced to some large stones no longer in situ. The edge of the ditch was reached at a depth 0.7m, indicating a width at the top of 2.8m. Excavation was discontinued at this point for health and safety reasons, as time did not permit the construction of shuttering. Finds from the overlying deposits included Late Iron Age, Late Norse and later medieval wheel-made pottery, and some ironwork and a whetstone, presumably strays from the late medieval ironworking investigated to the NW of Wall A in 2009.

Archive: Dunbeath Heritage Trust Funder: Historic Scotland; HIE Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise