Watching Brief

Date 15 September 2010 - 27 May 2011

Event ID 933761

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/933761

NO 11942 23546 (centred on) A watching brief was undertaken 15 September 2010–27 May 2011 during renovations and alterations at St John’s Kirk. A large quantity of disarticulated human bone and the partial remains of 11 skeletons were found inside the church. Where possible the skeletons were left in situ, and all of the bones were reburied inside the church. A number of architectural stones were recorded, including pieces of black limestone (‘Tournai marble’), as well as medieval pottery, animal bone, nails and a Neolithic flint blade. Foundation scarcements for the N and S walls of the nave survived, as did the foundation plinths for the pillars of the N and S arcades of the choir.

The partial remains of 16 skeletons and more disturbed human bones were recorded in the former graveyard. The bones found outside of the church were reburied in Wellshill Cemetery. The graveyard extended at least as far W as the pavement outside the City Hall and as far N as the entrance to Kirkgate. The remains of the W and E walls of the 18th-century Meal Market and two walls, which were cut into graveyard near the church, were recorded on the W side of the church.

A former cellar/boiler room for the E church and a double chamfered scarcement, with a single mason’s mark, were recorded on the N side of the church. The graveyard was found to have extended over the medieval midden layers of the burgh at the S end of Kirkgate.

Archive: RCAHMS

Funder: Trust for St John’s Kirk

Alder Archaeology Ltd, 2011

Information also reported in Oasis (alderarc1-106972) 10 August 2011