Trial Trench

Date 1995

Event ID 928148

Category Recording

Type Trial Trench

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/928148

Trial trenching was undertaken by SUAT Ltd. In 1995 in the pend and courtyard at this house. In the former was found a cultivation soil apparently pre-dating this 16th-century town house, while in the latter were found medieval occuaption layers dating back to thje 12th century, and a drystone well dating to the 12th-13th century.

The results from Test Pit B show that despite extensive service trenches, medieval garden soils, evidence of cultivation in the burgage plots, or backlands, have survived. These deposits may however be confined to the eastern side of the pend, against the face of the west wall of Gardyne's Land. The rest of the pend appears to be severely disturbed by services, though small pockets of archaeological deposits will be preserved in places.

Test Pit A shows a long archaeological sequence, perhaps stretching back to the 12th century. The level of the foundation plinth of the standing building suggests that the contemporary ground level was approximately the same as the present day flagstone courtyard. The rubble layer… which seals the well, almost certainly predates the construction of Gardyne's Land. Layer 17, which contained significant quantities of roof slates, may also predate the house. The source of this building debris may be the merchant's booths or ale cellars mentioned in the documentary records, which would have been demolished before Gardyne's Land was built. The earliest features identified, the well and the layers truncated by it, appear to date from the thirteenth century.

Overview

The two small areas examined as part of this assemblage have shown that substantial archaeological deposits have survived in this part of the medieval town, protected by the standing buildings around them. The pottery assemblage is extremely important and shows a range of imported wares coming into Dundee, one of the busiest ports in medieval Scotland. Because of extensive redevelopment in recent decades, particularly the 1960's, comparable sites elsewhere in Dundee were largely lost without any archaeological record. This site would, therefore, offer a rare opportunity to investigate the development of a small area of medieval Dundee from the earliest settlement to the present day.

Information from SUAT

Coleman and Stronach, R and S. 1995. Archaeological Evaluation at John Gardyne's Land, Dundee