Trial Trench

Date June 2001

Event ID 928127

Category Recording

Type Trial Trench

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/928127

Following a desk-based assessment, an archaeological survey was undertaken by SUAT Ltd in June 2001 of a proposed housing development at the eastern end of City Quay. Various features of the 19th century docks were recorded; road surfaces, warehouse foundations, a slipway and a railway track.

In order to accurately locate the buried structure of the West Graving Dock in relation to existing features in the immediate area, a short programme of trial trenching was undertaken. The edges of the dock thus located and recorded enabled the extrapolation of the position of the rest of the structure. This information will be of importance when it comes to providing an interpretation of the graving dock within the development area.

The walls of the graving dock were encountered in all five trenches. In two trenches (1 and 4) it appears likely that the main section of the dock wall has been truncated. Where this wall was undisturbed, however, it was around 0.9m wide and lay just 0.4-0.5m below the existing ground surface. The top of this wall stood around 3.77m OD. Steps leading down from this wall were around 0.3m - 0.4m deep, the top of the first step down standing ar around 3.45m OD. A stone drain was visible running behind the dock walls to the east and north. The lack of this feature in Trenches 1 and 4 was probably due to the limited size of the trenches, and it is very possible that this drain continued around the dock. Behind the main dock wall in Trench 3 stood a secondary, external wall. This was not encountered in Trenches 2 or 5 and it seems likely that this feature lay along the east side of the dock only, as the other trenches were long enough for it to have been reached. It may have formed a channel, at least 0.6m deep behind the dock. The infilling and levelling deposits over the development area were revealed; the main infilling deposits of the dock were remarkable merely for the large amount of sandstone masonry within them.

Information from SUAT,

Archaeological Evaluation: Apex Hotel Development, City Quay, Dundee.