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Watching Brief
NS 6519 7349 (centred on) A desk-based assessment and survey were carried out on the bank to the N of the slipway that is currently used as a boatshed. This work identified the potential presence of in situ archaeological features, and a watching brief was requested during the excavation of three trenches associated with the creation of a canal side pontoon and access bridge.
The slipway, which would have required the partial truncation of the E side of the 1830’s Townhill Basin entrance, was added by the firm of J and J Hay in 1897–8. The inlet to the slipway was formed by the addition of a spur of masonry (forming the N wall of the slipway) with make-up material, of unknown composition, forming the bank behind. The excavation trenches cut through this bank and presented an opportunity to examine its composition.
The watching brief identified the make-up as part of a late 19th-century addition to the canal. The presence of possible un-jointed walling, coupled with the presence of a later (and largely collapsed) hull-plate revetment, suggests that an original rubble wall was later supplemented by a revetment, which in turn collapsed leaving the bank exposed. In the 1980s a boathouse was built by the Seagull Trust on the site of the slipway and Hay’s boatbuilding yard. This was updated with a new structure in 2007.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended)
Funder: British Waterways Scotland and Intermarine Ltd
Kirkdale Archaeology
