Watching Brief

Date 2013

Event ID 993876

Category Recording

Type Watching Brief

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/993876

NH 8045 7171 A watching brief was carried out during removal of concrete from floor levels at Nigg Old Church as part of a project to re-house and re-display the Nigg cross slab. The stone has been housed in the W end of the church beneath the W Loft since March 1978, when the floor was lowered. The present work was undertaken as a precaution in case features, artefacts or human remains survived in situ.

After the removal of the stone for conservation, the existing concrete floor was removed. The floor overlay a uniform layer of loose, orange-brown sand and grit, which appeared to be the floor make-up within the church. It was cleaned off, but no features or artefacts were recorded. The layer was left in situ apart from a small area, c200 x 300mm, which was trowelled back. It was found to be c20mm thick and overlay virtually identical, but compacted sand and grit containing fragments of lime mortar.

The concrete walls and floor of the pit created in 1978 for the cross slab were not removed, apart from the lower of two concrete steps which provided access to it. The only feature recorded consisted of two well preserved sandstone slabs, partly visible in the doorway to the main body of the church, which will remain in situ. They had been dressed on the upper surface only and were clearly intended as paving.

Archive: HAS. Report: Highland HER

Report: Nigg Old Trust

Lynne McKeggie and John Wood, Highland Archaeology Services, 2013

(Source: DES)