Perth, North Port, Blackfriars House

NO12SW 138 1186 2384.

Excavation in advance of office extension by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board revealed a complex of pits, ditches and cultivated soils, oriented to respect the alignment of North Port, and dated from the 13th Century to the 16th century. These features lie in the backlands of an early northern suburb of the burgh. The absence of burials sets a limit on the eastward extent of the Blackfriars cemetery. (NO12SW 61). No evidence of the castle (NO12SW 28) was found, perhaps due to the limited area excavated. Early modern finds included some interesting architectural terracottas.

D Bowler and D Hall 1984.

Excavations at Blackfriars House in 1983 demonstrated a reorientation of backland property boundaries in the 15th century, related to the development of the northern suburb by the Dominicans.

D Bowler, A Cox and C Smith 1995.

The excavation archive from Perth, North Port, Blackfriars House has been catalogued. The archive consists of manuscripts, negatives, slides and drawings.

Historic Scotland Archive Project (SW) 2002.

Archive accumulated for the second Perth Monograph in the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series has been catalogued. The topic of the monograph was four excavations in Perth between 1979-1984 (21-22 Mill Street; 53-73 Kinnoull Street; 116-132 High Street; North Port, Blackfriars House). The monograph was never published and synopsis of the four excavations appeared in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 125 (1995). The archive includes the text for the monograph plus specialist reports, drawings considered and intended for publication, rough drafts and notes, and correspondence.

Historic Scotland Archive Project (SW) 2002