Old College Quadrangle

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Date 1 March 2010 - 25 November 2011

Event ID 968413

Category Project

Type Project

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/968413

Addyman Archaeology was commissioned by The University of Edinburgh to undertake archaeological work in response to the planning application to develop the grounds of Old College Quadrangle in Edinburgh.

Old College is built on the site of the medieval church and hospital of St Mary -in-the-Fields (NT27SE 20) and Hamilton House. The area became infamous as the site of the murder of Lord Darnley in February 1567. The Kirk O'Fields was granted to the newly founded (1582) University of Edinburgh. It is not known when the church and hospital buildings were demolished but Hamilton House (NT27SE 6136), which had become the Universtiy library, was demolished in 1798.

Information from Addyman Archaeology, 2010

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Event	Type	Subtype	Notes	Date
633883	RECORDING	EXCAVATION	NT 25990 73360 A desk-based assessment and evaluation was undertaken in relation to proposed resurfacing of the Old College Quadrangle courtyard. The desk-based assessment summarised the history of the site and established the approximate position of any possible surviving archaeological remains. The evaluation was carried out 29–31 March 2010 and targeted areas where remains of previous buildings were to be expected. Nine trenches were opened across the interior courtyard amounting to just under 7% of the development area. The trenches confirmed that the ground level in the courtyard had been substantially lowered and levelled c1832 as part of William Playfair’s completion of the existing quadrangle building. A post-medieval stone-lined drain that was encountered is part of Playfair’s building works. Despite the 19th-century down-cutting of the courtyard area, parts of a pre-existing paved surface and wall footings were identified in the NW corner of the site. A small quantity of disarticulated human bone was recovered from an area of redeposited subsoil in the S-central part of the site. This was probably residual from the medieval graveyard of the church of St Mary’s in the Field that had formerly occupied much of the Quadrangle area. [...]	29 March 2010
963497	RECORDING	EXCAVATION	NT 25990 73360 A programme of archaeological investigation was undertaken in the Old College Quadrangle for the University of Edinburgh in 2010 (DES 2010, 67–69). This work included a large scale excavation that revealed the vestigial remains of the historic Kirk o’ Fields, the associated cemetery and the buildings of the early University of Edinburgh. Excavation within the cellar area of the library building along the N side of the existing quad, constructed in 1642–6, revealed a small quantity of brightly coloured compounds and fragments of glass apparatus. Subsequent assessment of the materials showed them to be highly toxic and the glass to be in the nature of chemistry apparatus. Health and Safety concerns dictated this area remain undisturbed. [...]	14 June 2011

Old College Quadrangle

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