Horse Cross, Perth

Date January 2003 - June 2003

Event ID 996594

Category Recording

Type Excavation

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/996594

NO 119 238 An archaeological excavation was undertaken between January and June 2003 on a site lying just beyond the NE corner of Perth's medieval burgh defences, in advance of the construction of a new concert hall. Although its exact location has never been established, there was a royal castle in this area until it was destroyed during a flood in 1209. After the destruction of the castle, the area was given to the Blackfriars monastery, and developed into an industrial suburb.

Excavation revealed a deep, broad ditch, aligned roughly N-S, with waterlogged fills. This probably represents part of the medieval castle defences. The ditch was crossed by a stone-built bridge or causeway, incorporating an arch. Large assemblages of artefacts and faunal remains were recovered from midden deposits within the ditch. A small group of human burials, cut into a floor surface adjacent to the backfilled ditch, were associated with the medieval chapel of St Laurence. Archaeomagnetic dating of a hearth sealed below this floor yielded a date of AD 1360-95 for its last firing.

Post-medieval activity on the site included a series of clay-lined tanning pits, along with foundations of stone buildings, stone-lined wells and a culvert. Foundations of 18th and 19th-century tenements and shops, demolished in the 1930s, were revealed below the former Horse Cross car park.

Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.

Sponsor: Perth and Kinross Council.

A Cox 2003