Edinburgh, Old Church Lane, General

The Category B Listed wall is group listed with the Duddingston Manse and fronts Old Church Lane. The wall was the subject of a planning decision by Edinburgh Council that required it to be surveyed prior to re-pointing work. The west end of the wall was known to contain a number of blocked architectural features that might otherwise be altered by the proposed works. A photographic survey augmented by photogrammetric recording of the west end of the wall was conducted to record the extant features. The wall measured c.180m long and was 1.5m high rising to a height of 3m at its west end. At the east end it was constructed mainly of random rubble with regular courses of sandstone and whinstone (basalt). On the west side of the Manse Gate the wall was more uniform with regular courses of rough dressed sandstone. Features of historical interest included an iron tethering ring, two mason’s marks, two blocked doorways, a segmented arch with a possible gun-loop above it and four blocks of irregularly laid stonework. A possible blocked bee bole was found on the south side of the wall near the aforementioned segmented arch.

Information from Michael Cressey (CFA Archaeology Ltd) May 2017. OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-284695