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Watching Brief
Date 11 October 2011 - 12 October 2011
Event ID 980520
Category Recording
Type Watching Brief
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/980520
An evaluation was undertaken on the site of Fort House, Leith, prior to its demolition and redevelopment for housing. The work followed desk-based assessment, walkover survey and historic building recording of the site and was undertaken by Headland Archaeology on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Council. The aim of the evaluation was to target the remains of the early 19th century extension to the fort, as shown on Kirkwood's map of 1817 and detailed on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1853. Sixteen trenches were excavated, located across 5 areas of the site (A to E), amounting to 4% of the area available for trenching. The trenches located walls and surfaces of the Ordnance Store, stable blocks and ancillary buildings as well as the parade ground surfaces and a possible 'target' location within the parade ground, mostly concentrated towards the southern end of the site. To the north a number of concrete wall bases were found, which may relate to the latter use of the fort, which was occupied until the 1950s. In the central part of the site, within the area of the parade ground, an east-west ditch was located. This contained oyster shell as well as demolition rubble within the fill and is not shown on any of the maps of the fort. It is likely that it pre-dates the fort buildings, with the finds suggesting a medieval or post-medieval date.
Headland Archaeology 2011 (E. Jones) OASIS ID: headland1-112551
