Paisley, 8 Abbey Place

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken in April, May, July and September 2010, April, May 2011 and March 2015-July 2015 during ground-works for a residential development at North Building, Renfrewshire Council Headquarters, Cotton Street, Paisley. The remains of the east wall of the United Presbytarian Church and areas of cobbling associated with the former alignment of Cotton Street and tenement courtyards were discovered as well as burials representing the surviving remains of the graveyard of the United Presbyterian Church which was apparently cleared prior to the redevelopment of the area.

Information from OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-224848 (S Mitchell) 2015

An archaeological evaluation of Block D was carried out in 2015. The area available for the evaluation was constrained by the on-site conditions. However, it identified two lengths of sandstone wall, which corresponded to the graveyard boundary wall as depicted on the Ordnance Survey Town Plan of Paisley (1867-68), and stonework which corresponded with edge of Mill Street, as depicted on the same map. The evaluation was not sufficient to be sure that no bodies remained interred on the site so a watching brief was required during construction. Watching brief - For the most part foundation trenches were excavated solely through made ground containing modern demolition debris to the formation level. However, along the western edge of Block D, deeper excavations were required. In this section the remains of nine human burials were discovered. These burials are the surviving remains of the graveyard of the United Presbyterian Church which was cleared prior to the redevelopment of the area. Seven of the burials were fully excavated and two were left in situ as they were located within deposits which were to remain undisturbed by the development. Of the seven burials that were exhumed six were sent for osteological analysis, the seventh was contaminated with fuel oil so was not safe to analyse. All of the graves had been disturbed to some extent so the skeletons were all to some extent incomplete. However, the group comprised a single infant (Skeleton 3), an adolescent (Skeleton 8), a young adult (Skeleton 9), two prime adults (Skeletons 1 and 6) and an adult aged upwards of 18 years. What was interpreted as the remains of two parallel walls were identified along the eastern side of the watching brief area and it appears that at least one of these walls was the former wall of the graveyard.

Information from OASIS ID: cfaarcha1-233625 (S Mitchell) 2015