Fetternear House And Bishop's Palace

During the tenth excavation season in July 2004, good progress was made in establishing the phasing of this very complex site. This work has caused us to modify some of our interpretations published previously (see DES 2003, 15). Evidence for a ditch surrounding the medieval bishop's palace is based on a documentary source which indicates it as being 18ft wide, 9ft deep and located to the N of the 16th-century tower house. Limited excavation of this area confirmed its presence, its E-W alignment, and that it turned southwards at its eastern end. In the main excavated area to the S of the mansion, the presumed continuation of this ditch was located, aligned N-S. It is now clear that this major feature existed in one form or another from the later 14th to the 18th centuries. Much of it was filled with building rubble, probably dating from the 18th century when parts of the mansion were demolished. This fill also contained 17th-century pottery, including sherds of a North Italian marbled lion head costrel - the first to be identified from a Scottish context. Remnants of medieval fill in the southernmost part of the ditch, as excavated to date, contained a groat of Robert III, probably deposited in the first quarter of the 15th century.

It has been proved that the succession of ditch cuts, which were more or less on the one alignment, pre-dated and were also contemporary with a substantial N-S aligned wall immediately to the W. This feature is likely to have been constructed in the later 14th century and was built against an earlier medieval wall. It can only represent the eastern wall of the E range. It was previously indicated (DES 1998, 6-7) that there were two 'undercrofts' forming part of this range of the medieval bishop's palace and a latrine shaft, which was blocked and another inserted when the southern end of the N-S was widened. However, it has now been established that the walling and the latrine shaft include extensive 19th-century reconstruction.

The Leslies of Balquhain constructed a tower house, probably in the 1570s, after their acquisition of the estate. The later 14th-century wall was cut down to support more slight walling. This formed a wing containing at least two rooms running N-S from the tower house. It is of a similar width to the chamber above the gatehouse at Tolquhon Castle. This year further walling became evident beneath the cobbled area immediately in front of the mansion. Finds include pig and fish bones and the area is likely to have contained the servants' quarters.

Sponsors: Aberdeenshire Council, Russell Trust, Fetternear Trust, University of Liverpool, R B Farquhar, Clan Irwin Association, Mrs C Whittall, Mr J Whittall, Mrs C Fyffe, Mr R Fyffe, Mr D Fyffe.

NJ 7233 1708 Further evidence of the extensive levelling operation undertaken during the Post-Reformation occupation was encountered in this 13th season of work at Fetternear. Work was undertaken from 2-28 July 2007. Levelling has been noted throughout the area excavated to the S of the mansion and on both sides of the current drive (DES 2006). Investigation of a section of moat was undertaken at the southern limit of the excavation area E of the drive. A complete cross-section was obtained. The construction of the moat differs in comparison to the moat N of the mansion (DES 2004), being flat-bottomed in profile as opposed to the V-shaped section recorded to the N of the site. This difference could be explained by the different nature of the natural geology, which is clay rather than bedrock. It was also demonstrated this season that the moat narrows and comes to an end. At this terminus a series of truncated stakes were encountered, together with one piece of worked wood. The fill differs from that observed elsewhere on the site. It consists of soil layers with very few finds and not rubble from building destruction. Based on a preliminary study by WJ Lindsay, the scarce finds from the fill appear to be 14th-century in date and include a sherd of Raeren pottery. A pit

was cut into the fill; it contained pieces of sawn tree trunk.

The natural had been scarped to the N of the moat with the result that the present interior surface is lower than the exterior. This scarping has been identified across a wide area and truncated a dense concentration of stakeholes that underlay a pebbled surface. Some of these stakeholes intercut each other. This suggests a series of phases but at this stage it is only possible to say that this is the earliest feature in this area. Cut into this scarped natural is a terrace wall that seems to replace an earlier wider wall, both have been heavily robbed and possibly rebuilt.

At the eastern limit of the excavation there is evidence for the stepping of the natural. This is directly overlain by a cobbled surface that is in turn cut by a more recent feature. There were remains of walling that were identified as recent garden features.

We wish to thank Mrs C Whittall, Mr J Whittall, Mrs C Fyffe, Mr R Fyffe and Mr D Fyffe for their support and for allowing access to the site.

Archive to be deposited with Aberdeenshire SMR and RCAHMS.

Funder: Aberdeenshire Council, Council for British Archaeology Challenge Funding, Fetternear Trust and University of Liverpool.

P Z Dransart and J Trigg, 2007.

NJ 7233 1708 Work carried out 29 June–1 August confirmed that the moat, investigated in the 2007 season, reaches a terminus in the area S of the post-Reformation mansion which now dominates the site. The organic deposits in the upper fill of the moat are well preserved and extend northwards as far as the terrace wall. Offcuts of hewn oak and a fragment of lathe-turned wood were recovered from the moat fill.

The terrace wall runs E/W parallel to the moat and is aligned with the more southerly of the two robbed-out walls excavated (in 2005/06) to the W of the drive which bisects the site. E of the drive the wall extends E beyond the terminus of the southern portion of the moat, turning at a right-angle to continue northwards and run into a widened N/S trending wall, as described in previous DES entries. The wall encroaches onto a section of moat and we uncovered what appears to be its southernmost terminus in 2008, but did not excavate its fill.

The more northerly of the two robbed-out walls encountered W of the drive in 2005/06 continues E of the drive. Measuring nearly 3m in width, it probably formed part of one of the public buildings of the medieval bishop’s palace. It was robbed in the 19th-century excavation of the site; a timber plank remains in situ from this earlier excavation, and was used to site a drain pipe which runs along its length underneath a layer of hardcore.

We further explored the cobbled area between the two termini of the moat in the SE sector of the excavation area. On the E of the cobbled area is a ditch with a V-shaped profile. It runs S towards the Marshes Burn. The ditch differs in character from the moat, which is flat-bottomed where it was dug into the natural clay. A small gully fed into the ditch on its W side. Two massive boulders lay in the soil covering the northern part of the ditch. On their removal two in situ oak sill beams in a setting of stones were revealed. These beams are at the N end of the ditch, but further excavation is required to ascertain their relationship. Each has two mortises. They were converging to the W.

We wish to thank Mrs C Whittall, Mr J Whittall, Mrs C Fyffe, Mr R Fyffe and Mr D Fyffe for their support and for allowing access to the site.

Archive: Aberdeenshire SMR (intended) and RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Aberdeenshire Council, Council for British Archaeology Challenge Funding and Past Horizons

PZ Dransart and J Trigg (Scottish Episcopal Palaces Project), 2008