Edinburgh, Leith, 4-10 Constitution Street
No Class (Event)
Site Name Edinburgh, Leith, 4-10 Constitution Street
Classification No Class (Event)
Canmore ID 166324
Site Number NT27NE 839
NGR NT 2737 7657
NGR Description Centred NS 2737 7657
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/166324
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT27NE 839 centred 2732 7657
NT 2732 7657 (centre) Three trial trenches were excavated in January 1999 in an open yard situated at the corner of Constitution Street and Tower Street, Leith. The area of the site was shown to have been a tidal bay until the early 18th century, slowly silting up, possibly as a result of the construction of the Timber Bush immediately to the W. The natural sand layers were overlain by a thin layer of wood fragments also containing two items of human bone, perhaps relating to one of the 16th-century sieges of Leith. As the southern half of the site became dry ground, this process was formalised and extended in 1735 by deliberate land reclamation, and an E-W row of stone-floored buildings was constructed across the central part of the site. By the late 18th century the shoreline coincided with the southern side of Tower Street and the northern half of the site was used as a dumping ground for waste from the nearby glassworks and marble-cutting yard.
Sponsor: Northcross Ltd.
D Henderson 1999
This site is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 1:1056 scale map (Edinburgh and its Environs, 1853, sheet 13) as a Rice Mill.
Information from RCAHMS (KC) 7 August 2000.
NT 2743 7656 In January and March 2001, an archaeological watching brief monitoring the removal of building foundations and excavation of a pipe trench failed to encounter either significant archaeological features or artefacts.
Sponsor: Mowlem Construction.
J Gooder 2001.
Excavation (January 1999)
NT 2732 7657 (centre) Three trial trenches were excavated in January 1999 in an open yard situated at the corner of Constitution Street and Tower Street, Leith. The area of the site was shown to have been a tidal bay until the early 18th century, slowly silting up, possibly as a result of the construction of the Timber Bush immediately to the W. The natural sand layers were overlain by a thin layer of wood fragments also containing two items of human bone, perhaps relating to one of the 16th-century sieges of Leith. As the southern half of the site became dry ground, this process was formalised and extended in 1735 by deliberate land reclamation, and an E-W row of stone-floored buildings was constructed across the central part of the site. By the late 18th century the shoreline coincided with the southern side of Tower Street and the northern half of the site was used as a dumping ground for waste from the nearby glassworks and marble-cutting yard.
Sponsor: Northcross Ltd.
D Henderson 1999
Watching Brief (January 2001 - March 2001)
NT 2743 7656 In January and March 2001, an archaeological watching brief monitoring the removal of building foundations and excavation of a pipe trench failed to encounter either significant archaeological features or artefacts.
Sponsor: Mowlem Construction.
J Gooder 2001.
