Newsletter – Issue 149, July 2004

Visit to Haddington

A small band of masochists visited Haddington on 16th June, but our gloom was lifted by the warm welcome we received at St Mary’s Church, the largest church in Scotland. Though built in the Early Medieval Period it suffered a lot from the attentions of the English, but, after extensive reconstruction in the 16th century, it emerged like a phoenix out of the fire. Unfortunately events leading up to the Reformation left it a ruin until the dedication and energy of the people of Haddington restored it again in the last century. Even its fibreglass ribbed vaulting looks superb.
We then set off (in the rain) across the medieval Nungate Bridge with its iron hook to St Martin’s Church, the only remaining part of a medieval convent. Apart from the fact that it had no roof it is still in pretty good condition. Lastly we went to Haddington House. This attractive 17th century building, with a period garden around it, was the base of the Maitlands who played an important part in Scottish politics in the reign of Charles II. We tried to find where John Knox lived as a wee boy but no one we talked to knew where it was – and it was still raining…

Proposed Trip to Dreva Hill Fort on Saturday, 28th August

There will be a visit to this hill fort on Saturday, 28th August. Access is via a well-maintained stile, and then a short rocky walk on level ground. It has inner and outer ramparts of stone and the entrance has an interesting layout. To the south there is a chevaux de frise. An even more remarkable feature is that there are settlements to the north and the west containing round houses, round and rectangular enclosures and carefully laid pathways.
If anyone has enough energy after this we can go to the fort at Tinnis near Drumelzier. This is unusual in that a medieval castle was built on top of an Iron Age fort until someone who didn’t like the owner blew it up, leaving the Iron Age fort undamaged.

Excavation at Penicuik

Our second six month spell of investigation has now come to an end with the pheasant season due to start soon. Work has concentrated on excavation within the trench opened last year and on the stone revetting that curves round the NE end of the promontory overlooking Cornton.
The NE of the trench, which should underlie the ‘castle’ shown on the Ainslie plan of 1796, is composed of almost pure sand and has been confirmed by Mike Browne of British Geological Survey as natural and probably water-laid. This would have been under, or in the rear of, a glacier moving in the direction of Musselburgh some 14000 years ago!
A paved area was found in the SW end of the trench but, like other areas excavated, it produced no finds. The NE end of the trench has now been backfilled over the natural sands, conveniently removing a spoil heap on the south side where we could well excavate next year.
The revetting consists of a mass of stones on the N side of the promontory with a line of smaller stones curving up and round to the south but then increasing in size again and ending in a paved area on the south side of the trench. Robin has completed the E.D.M. topographical survey and this, when drawn, could make more sense of the layout.
The lack of finds means we still cannot date the site; the original idea of an early medieval motte and bailey is still possible but Iron Age or earlier – who knows? All will be revealed – maybe – restarting 6th February 2005.

Ground Resistance Survey in Dalmeny Village, 18-19 September

This survey is the EAFS contribution to Scottish Archaeology Month and will be published through the Council for Scottish Archaeology. These events attract a wide public interest and we need not only members to conduct the survey but also people to explain what is going on to the visitors, show printouts of previous surveys and answer questions. All members who would like to lend a hand please give me a ring.
The survey is being done in cooperation with John Lawson, the City of Edinburgh Archaeological Officer, who will be doing a topographical survey.
Historic Scotland are interested in, and are sponsoring us for, this survey, which should hopefully give some indications of the layout of the medieval village by detecting wall footings. Medieval pottery was found in an excavation last year at Wester Dalmeny Steading just to the west and the church with its Norman origins lies just to the east so there is every hope of finding something of interest.

Dig at Dalmeny

The spring barley has not yet been harvested and the Factor cannot yet give us a starting date. We will have to re-layout the field we walked in order to identify where the highest concentration of lithic finds were made. The Edinburgh University team will then join us (with wet sieving equipment that we do not have) and choose the sites for test pitting.

Survey in the Borders

This is still planned for September but no firm dates are available yet.

Survey at Cramond

The majority of the survey has been completed but the linear array measurements are still on hold. Dr Bruce Hobbs of the University of Edinburgh Geology and Geophysics Dept. has not yet been able to confirm a date for this final session but we will arrange it as soon as possible.

Ground Resistance Survey at Corstorphine

Everything is ready to go here. If Dalmeny is delayed we could do Corstorphine in mid-August otherwise it will follow the Dalmeny dig.

Ground Resistance Survey at Ingliston

A park and ride area is likely to be made at Ingliston and Robin Murdoch, wearing his professional archaeological hat, has become involved and has asked us to conduct an area survey. The survey, coupled with trenching (in which we would not be involved) would form the ‘watching brief’ before the site is developed. The survey is likely to take about five days with gaps in between but we don’t have any start dates fixed yet.

Traprain Law Excavations

Several members had the opportunity to participate in the recent excavations on the Iron Age hill fort on Traprain Law when Fraser Hunter of the National Museums of Scotland, Ian Armit of Queen’s University, Belfast, and CFA Archaeology Ltd were examining the effects of last autumn’s fire on the monument. The first coal jewellery workshop in Scotland was identified, when waste from cannel coal bangle-making was found in the Iron Age hill fort. Excavation of the medieval building, first identified following the 1996 fire, was completed. Also found were stone balls, a small piece of stone with an incised geometric design similar to rock art destroyed by the quarry, beads and pottery. As in previous years, people returned home with a suntan enhanced by the ash adhering to the sun cream!

Scottish Archaeology Month

Cramond Heritage Trust is running its SAM event on Saturday and Sunday, 18th and 19th September. Guided walks around Historical Cramond, the Riverside Iron Mills and Archaeological Cramond will take place each afternoon. Patrick Cave-Browne will be offering hands-on Ancient Technology. The Maltings Exhibition will also be open. Full details via the SAM website or via www.cramondheritagetrust.org.uk nearer the time.

Dates for your Diary

August (exact dates not known yet). Dalmeny dig.
Saturday, 28th August. Society outing to Dreva Hill Fort.
Saturday and Sunday, 18th-19th September. Dalmeny Village ground resistance survey, with City of Edinburgh Archaeological Service, as part of Scottish Archaeology Month.
September (exact dates not known yet). Eddleston survey.
Wednesday, 20th October. First Society lecture of the winter. Dr Anne Crone on Coming out of the Woodwork – Dendrochronological Work in Scotland.
Tuesday, 16th November. Society lecture. Trevor Cowie on Clues to the Past – The Eddleston Project.
Wednesday, 15th December. Society AGM followed by EAFS 2004 Projects Updates.

Newsletter – Issue 148, June 2004

Visit to Corstorphine Church

Several of us visited Corstorphine Church where we were given a warm welcome and an extremely interesting guided tour around the building.
A church was built on the site in 1128 but was replaced by another in 1429 and later given collegiate status. Over the years it became extremely dilapidated until it was extensively restored in the early 20th century. This was done in a sensitive manner true to the original design so that the church retains the aura of a medieval building.
A western entrance porch joins a larger vestibule, which in turn opens onto the crossing under the tower. On either side is a transept, the south containing an early medieval baptismal font. Then there is the nave with a northern aisle supported by pillars and arches. To the east there is the chancel that used to contain the high altar. North of this is a three storey building that used to be used by the prebend. The main external feature is a tower supporting an octagonal tower.

Proposed Trip to Haddington

We shall be visiting Haddington on Saturday, 19th June. This is a lovely market town full of interesting historical sites. We shall be starting our visit at Haddington Church, the largest medieval parish church in Lothian. Arrangements have been made for a volunteer to take us round.
On leaving the church we shall pass Haddington house, the home of the Duke of Lauderdale, a scourge of the Covenanters during the reign of Charles II. We then go across a 15th century bridge, which still has the hook used on felons given a suspended sentence. This will take us to St Martin’s Church, originally part of a convent. It has no roof but is otherwise in excellent condition.
The town was originally renowned for its many churches and religious communities but most have disappeared without trace. It is ironic that this centre of Catholicism should have been the home of the young John Knox, although no one has found the actual house.

Excavation at Penicuik

Regular Sunday digs are now taking place at Castlehill on the estate of Sir Robert Clerk at Penicuik. I would like to have said ‘on a motte and bailey site’ but despite a 17 by 3 metre trench on the top of the hill and investigation of stone revetting round the north eastern end we have no finds to confirm the date of the site.
The line of the stone revetment that starts from the north side of the hill is lower down the slope than that which curves from the south side northwards. We have not progressed far enough to confirm fully that they contour round at different levels. It would be an achievement if we could show that the upper one encircled the motte and the lower one included the bailey. The erosion of the sides of the promontory, which still slopes down to the burn at an angle of nearly 40º, is such that I suspect a lot has been lost, and old maps and the Ainslie plan would appear to confirm this.
Within the trench we have found an area paved with sandstone slabs and edged, at one side, with a stone curb. On extending the trench to find the southern edge of the paving it stopped abruptly and appears to have been robbed out.
The dig will continue until the end of July when, once again, the shooting season will take precedence.
Shorewatch Members ‘shorewalked’ at Blackness on 7th and 25th May. While not getting stuck in quicksand, they identified the position and structure on many fish traps. The next walk is planned for 6th July.

Dig at Dalmeny

The dig at Cobble Cottage field on the Dalmeny estate in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh Archaeological Department is likely to take place in August but precise timing depends on when the current cereal crop is harvested. Test pits will be dug in areas where our fieldwalking of five (!!) years ago produced most lithics. There is a possibility that a Mesolithic site to match that found in our Cramond dig exists on the west side of the River Almond.

Survey in the Borders

We will be returning, probably in September, to continue work around Eddleston in conjunction with Peebles-shire Archaeological Society. The site that Trevor Cowie is suggesting is shown on Sheet NT24/34 (Peebles) in the ‘White Barony’ area to the east of Eddleston and is marked as Hopeton Tower (site of).

Survey at Cramond

Having completed 10,400 readings (26 of our standard 20 by 20 metre squares) we have reached a point to pause and consider what more can be usefully done before it is written up.
Further squares to the north, over the edge of the raised beach, would takes us into very different geology confusing what might be archaeological with Devonian boulder clay. Extending to the east would take us into very disturbed ground with buried sewer pipes and over a dozen manhole covers. Neither area seems likely to add much to what has already been recorded.
Two additional items of survey could help in our interpretation of the site. The first of these is to survey in all the existing trees to see how they relate to the alignment on Berwick Law and also whether they seem to have influenced the ground resistance around them. The second relates to a few ‘amorphous blobs’ of both high and low resistance that may mark linear features. The highs could be gravel banks and the lows residual dune-slack ponds, both formed in the rear of the raised beach. Linear array resistance measurement in section across the blobs to a depth of four metres should clarify how deep these features are and whether there are linear features above them. The fact that these features show up in the area survey indicates that they are not more than 0.75 metres from the surface but how far down do they go and is there anything above them?

Ground resistance survey at Corstorphine

We now have written permission from John Lawson, the City of Edinburgh Archaeological Officer, to conduct surveys on the south side of the church and in St Margaret’s Park.
Sir John Forrester had, some time before 1429, assigned three acres of his estate for the use of three chaplains ministering in the collegiate church. Each acre was to have a house and ‘pasture for 3 horses and 3 cows’. The area around the war memorial to the south of the church is reputedly the site of the house of one chaplain but some time before 1538 a ‘hospital ‘ was built on the site which later is designated ‘alms house’. This was ruinous by 1679 and about 1810 the Kirk Session sold the site on a 99 year lease and one John Cowie built a house. The City acquired the site in 1924 and all the buildings were demolished in 1928. We should certainly find something in the way of foundations but interpretation may present a problem.
The Dower House (or Gibsone Lodge) in St Margaret’s Park is possibly the much-altered house of another chaplain. By 1765 the house was owned by an Edinburgh lawyer, Samuel Mitchelson, who made alterations and added stables, coach houses, a barn and gardener’s house. Again plenty of wall footings to look for but the interpretation is likely to be just as confusing.

Ground resistance survey in Dalmeny Village

This survey, which will be done as a joint project with the City of Edinburgh Archaeological Service, will form our project for inclusion in Scottish Archaeology Month organised by the Council for Scottish Archaeology. The survey will take place over the weekend 18-19 September with CECAS doing the topographical survey. Between us we hope to identify the foundations of the buildings that formed the medieval village.