Standing Building Recording

Date 10 December 2011 - 12 June 2012

Event ID 993000

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/993000

NT 2657 7374 A programme of archaeological work was undertaken 10 December 2011 – 12 June 2012 prior to and during redevelopment of the site, and recorded six phases of activity. The earliest phase consisted of multiple layers of garden soils and a large well cut into the bedrock, possibly associated with medieval and post-medieval activity on the site. The remains of two walls, which may have related to a sugar refinery that occupied the site 1765–1850, represent the only upstanding features from Phase 2. A layer of pottery-rich loam recorded above the garden soils provided additional evidence of the sugar refinery. The pottery included large quantities of sugar cone and syrup jar fragments. Further excavation across the upper terrace of the site recorded various walls, floors, flues and culverts and discreet features associated with buildings linked to Phase 3 of the site. All these features were inside buildings first depicted in the 1852 OS map and seem to reflect industrial activity.

The standing building recording revealed that although the main fabric of the original brewery survived, much of the internal fixtures had been modified or completely removed. Four main phases (Phases 3–6) associated with the present buildings were identified. The first (Phase 3) saw the construction of the tenement located to the N side of the site. This was followed by the construction of the brewery (Phase 4) in 1868. A third phase (Phase 5) saw a reconstruction of the front entrance to the site in the 1940s along with a number of other superficial alterations. The final phase, commencing in the 1960s saw the demolition of a number of smaller buildings to the N of the main brewery complex and the subsequent construction a laboratory in the 1980s.

Archive: RCAHMS

Funder: Watkin-Jones Group

Donald Wilson, Headland Archaeology Ltd

2012