Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Watching Brief
Date 13 November 2012 - 28 January 2013
Event ID 963878
Category Recording
Type Watching Brief
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/963878
Alder Archaeology carried out a watching brief on the formation of new paths giving access to the ruins of Coupar Angus Abbey gatehouse from Queen Street and from Coupar Angus churchyard. The work also entailed insertion of drains for the recently restored Simprim Mausoleum, and the excavation of a posthole for an information panel, and was commissioned by the Historic Churchyards Project, Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust. It was carried out in November 2012 and January 2013, and given the site code CG07.
In the event, excavation was shallower than expected, because the removal of turf and topsoil generally exposed layers of gravel or sandstone rubble firm enough to serve as a sub-base for the paths, without deeper excavation. The layers seemed to be modern or related to the development and maintenance of the churchyard and the surroundings of the ruins. Only the information panel posthole went deep enough to penetrate these layers and expose a deposit of sandstone and mortar fragments possibly associated with the demolition and decay of the abbey.
The earliest find from the site was a steel coffin handle, of 19th or 20th-century date.
Information from Oasis (alderarc1-150917) 28 August 2013
