Alloa Harbour, The Old Wet Dock

NS 8860 9190 A desk-based assessment and archaeological evaluation were carried out at the site of a proposed housing development at the Old Wet Dock, Alloa Harbour, Clackmannanshire between 12-13 June 2007. The aim of the assessment was to identify potential archaeological issues that would impact on the proposed development, in particular the location of the old wet dock basin that is to form a feature within the proposed development. The assessment identified the location, limit and nature of the wet dock and helped inform the location for the trenches during the evaluation. The results of the evaluation confirmed the findings of the initial assessment. A total of eight trenches were excavated revealing the buried remains of the coping stones of the wet dock wall and the first few masonry or brick courses with the occasional survival of in situ wooden brandering. The wet dock structures were seen to survive in particularly good condition.

Archive to be deposited with RCAHMS. Report deposited with Stirling SMR and RCAHMS.

Funder: Kenmore Homes Ltd.

NS 886 919 (centre of wet dock) Work was undertaken 1 June–13 November 2007 as a condition of planning consent for a housing development in Alloa Harbour. The assessment identified the location, limit and nature of the old wet dock and helped inform the location for the trenches during the evaluation. The results of the evaluation confirmed the findings of the initial assessment. The wet dock structures survived in particularly good condition beneath recent made ground.

Standing building recording was carried out on a roofless polygonal ruin at the Shore, to the W of the wet dock. The aim was to record, analyse and interpret the historic fabric of the building before its removal as part of the development. The group of buildings indicated a complex structural history, with elements that may stretch back to the later 18th century. The notable architectural elements of masonry and arches are mid-19th-century, of high quality and typical of the period. The buildings probably functioned as stores and workshops, connected with the early woodyard and activity in the dockyard.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended). Report: RCAHMS and Stirling Council (intended)

Funder: Kenmore Homes Ltd

Dan Atkinson and George Geddes (Headland Archaeology Ltd0, 2008