West Kilbride, Seamill

NS24NW 11 2025 4712

(NS 2025 4712) Bronze Age Cinerary Urns found AD 1880 and 1883 (NAT)

OS 25" map (1967)

Urns containing Human Bones found AD 1830 (NAT)

OS 25" map (1910)

Urns containing human bones were found here in 1830 when the road was being constructed. (The original Ordnance Survey Name Book (ONB 1855) notes that human bones and urns containing bones, etc had been found at various times in the vicinity of fort NS24NW 10).

Name Book 1909

Two urns were found at this spot in 1830, when making the road. One (no.9 on Morrison's illustration) is a collared cinerary urn which is now in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS Accession no EA 198). No description exists of the second urn which most probably was also a cinerary urn. It was given to Anderson's College Museum. The collections from there were in Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum in 1927, but this urn could not be traced. However, in the latter museum is a cordoned urn (no.10), said to have been found at Seamill about 1880; it contained burnt bones, and was probably from this cemetery. A further two collared urns (nos 13 and

14) now in the NMAS (Accession no EA 195-6) were found close to each other

in the bank at the side of the road in 1883. Both contained burnt bones, though some of those in no.13 were stained green from the disintegration of small bronze object which had been buried with them. Also in the NMAS is a cordoned urn (no.11), donated in January 1883 (Accession no EA 66). It was found "in excavating at the junction of the new road to Seamill with the turnpike road from Ardrossan to Largs. Its contents are not recorded.

NSA 1845 (T Findlay); J Macdonald 1878; ; Proc Soc Antiq Scot 1883; J G Callander 1927; A Morrison 1968.

A cinerary urn and calcined bones from Seamill are in Glasgow Art Galleries and Museum (Accession no: 20-33a).

Typescript list of Ayrshire material in GAGM, undated.

NS 2028 4714 - Archaeological investigative works were undertaken in respect of the proposed development on land at 56a Ardrossan Road, Seamill, Ayrshire. The evaluation comprised of two trenches and three test pits. All trenches and test pits exhibited a fairly common stratigraphic sequence with mid brown friable sand topsoil with occasional small-medium stones with an average depth of 400mm, overlying an orange coarse sand, which contained stone inclusions in the northern portions of the site. No significant archaeological features were identified.

Sponsor: Morven Developments Ltd

T Rees 2007.