Greenbank House, Garden
Artefact Scatter (Period Unassigned), Garden (Period Unassigned), Sundial (Period Unassigned), Button(S), Coin, Inorganic Material(S) (Glass), Pipe (Smoking)(S), Unidentified Pottery(S)
Site Name Greenbank House, Garden
Classification Artefact Scatter (Period Unassigned), Garden (Period Unassigned), Sundial (Period Unassigned), Button(S), Coin, Inorganic Material(S) (Glass), Pipe (Smoking)(S), Unidentified Pottery(S)
Alternative Name(s) Glasgow, Clarkston, Flenders Road, Greenbank House
Canmore ID 89401
Site Number NS55NE 23.01
NGR NS 56069 56580
NGR Description Centred on NS 56069 56580
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/89401
- Council East Renfrewshire
- Parish Mearns
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Eastwood
- Former County Renfrewshire
Archaeological Evaluation (1994)
NS55NE 23.01 56069 56580.
Prior to the construction of a formal garden in the area of the walled garden nearest to Greenbank House, an assessment was made of the survival of previous garden features. In addition to a detailed survey of the undulations in the present grass, several small trenches were opened at strategic locations, based on the evidence of formal gardens as shown on an estate plan of 1772. The work was mainly carried out by members of ACFA under the supervision of Robin Turner, NTS Archaeologist. In the event, only very coarse features like cinder paths and deep flower beds were located, and insufficient was left to be used in the design of the forthcoming work.
Sponsor: NTS.
R Turner 1994i.
Watching Brief (1997)
NS 56069 56580 Greenbank House and gardens were constructed in the late 18th century and are set within a designed landscape. A watching brief was undertaken during the excavation of a service trench from Flenders Road to the W side of Greenbank House. The service trench cut through the field immediately to the N of the house where rig and furrow survived as slight upstanding features. In this area 12 rubble-filled drains and seven terracotta drains were noted. These represented at least three phases of drains, none of which were on the same alignment as the rig and furrow.
A block of dressed sandstone was found in the trench in the vicinity of the house. No pottery or domestic refuse was found in the trench.
Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland
H F James 1997
Field Walking (7 September 2008 - 8 September 2008)
NS 5586 5652 Fieldwalking to the SW of the 18th-century merchant’s house and garden at Greenbank, on 7–8
September 2008, recovered a wide range of finds, most of which were probably spread on the field as part of a
manuring process in the 19th century. It seems likely that most of this material, which included white glazed pottery, green bottle glass, buttons and even a single very corroded coin, was from the farm rather than the big house. This is typical of the sort of artefacts found in ploughed fields across lowland Scotland but there was, however, a noticeable concentration of clay tobacco pipe fragments (over 110 pieces) close to the gate of one of the fields, marked as Hyndhill Park on the 1772 estate plan. Most of these pieces are plain pipe stems but others include fragments of decorated bowls and some with maker’s stamps. All the pipes were manufactured in Glasgow and include companies such as A Coghill, Christie, J Shaw, T McLachlin and Alexander. It is unclear whether the concentration in the field is simply the result of the dumping of a load of
farm refuse or whether it marks the area where ploughmen and farm labourers rested and smoked.
Archive: RCAHMS (intended)
Funder: The National Trust for Scotland
Derek Alexander – The National Trust for Scotland
