Infield
Easter Carawhin
Thistle Camp Volunteers surveying the projectarea as part of the March 2002 Survey Season |
The first survey season in March 2002 focused on the land division known
historically as Easter Carawhin, building on earlier survey work by the
Royal Commission on the Anicent and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
It was designed to identify new sites and record previously known sites
in greater detail. Teams were taught the systematic approach to walkover
survey as well as how to interpret and record archaeological surface remains.
The land division was divided up for investigation into Croftvellich,
Balnreich and Blarmore |
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Thistle Camp volunteers lining up to carry out a walk-over survey |
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Croftvellich
| During the walkover survey, a previously unidentified hut circle, possibly about 3000 years old, was discovered at Croftvellick. The remains of structures shown on Farquarson's 1769 map were also located and recorded. |
Volunteer excavating the hut circle at Croftvellich |
Volunteers excavating at Croftvelich |
In September 2002, the excavation targeted several sites that were surveyed during the initial survey field school of the project. This included the hut-circle, probably of prehistoric date, and the traces of a robbed-out building inside the kailyard. The results of the excavations showed an astonishing chronological range, with evidence of settlement in prehistory, the late Medieval period and the nineteenth century. Analysis of the metallurgical waste recovered from the hut circle revealed it as a fragment of metallurgical ceramics, most likely from a furnace where bog ore had been smelted. Samples recovered contained birch, hazel and oak. Radiocarbon dates recovered from the site dates it at 250-60BC. |
Figure 1. Map of Loch Tay with the area |
Figure 2. A detailed map of the specific areas under investigation by the project in 2002. Click on image to see a larger view (185kb). [Opens in new window] |
Balnreich
| In March 2002, a detailed survey was undertaken of the township of Balnreich, using an electronic survey instrument (or total station) to produce an accurate ground plan. Teams were also taught how to record standing buildings and used their newly aquired skills to make more sense of the development and phasing of the Balnreich remains. |
Volunteers carrying out the detail survey at Balnreich |
Volunteers excavating the chicken coop at Balnreich |
The following summer at the township of Balnreich, excavation of one of the largest buildings showed it was a longhouse that had been substantially altered and expanded over several phases of occupation. A well-laid flagged floor covered the centre of the building, with a millstone set in it and a stone hearth to one side. Built into the back of the hearth were three heal plates from shoes, set in a row. There was a tradition of hiding shoes in buildings between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries in order to bring good luck. At one end of the house was a byre where cattle had been kept, although in a later phase it was used as a chicken coop. |
Hearth were the heal plate was discovered |
| In the deposits we excavated were hundreds of finds - including
pieces of decorated pottery and glass, iron nails, window glass, clay
pipes and part of a pair of spectacles. The finds suggest that the house
was occupied during the nineteenth century. The recovery of a copper alloy
brooch, bearing a deer motif, may suggest associations with Clay Hay or
the Lovat Scouts. Study of the archaeo-botanical samples from Balnreich
has shown light on the types of timbers used as well as radiocarbon dating
information. Birch, Ash, Scots Pine, Larch and Oak were all common. Soils work was also carried out at the excavated building to learn more go to the Soil Analysis Report. |
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Blarmore
Volunteers taking levels of artefacts at Blarmore |
At the township of Blarmore, excavation investigated the remains of a sixteenth-century laird's house, probably the seat of the Laird of Crannich. Although the building had been badly robbed, we found in-situ wall plaster, the impression of a timber floor, a large fireplace and roof slates, indicating this was relatively fine house for its time. Ash samples recovered from Blarmore provided radiocarbon dates between 1440 to 1640AD. |
Volunteers excavating a rubble mound at Blarmore |
| A sherd from a sweetmeat glass was recovered which dates from the mid-18th Century. This recovery of 18th century finer tableware is interesting, given that few traces of ceramic vessels are apparent. It may be as a result of re-cycling of glassware from estate properties, rather than directly being imported into the area for sale to the tenantry of the townships. |
Selection of 19th Century Pottery from excavations |
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Edramucky
| In April 2003, GUARD carried out a second season of along Loch Tayside
on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland, on the lands to the south
of Edramucky House. Edramucky is first recorded in the late 1600s, when Duncan of Edramucky and his son Colin acquired lands there. Duncan is believed to have murdered Sir James Campbell of Lawers, who was found dead after the two men had spent the evening drinking, although there is no record he was ever brought to trial. At Edramucky we recorded the remains of a corn-drying kiln, as well as what could be the traces of a small tower, Edramucky Castle. |
Volunteers measuring the walls of one of the structures at Edramucky |
Easter and Wester Tombreck
Volunteers recording shovel test pits at Easter Tombreck |
In April 2005 at Tombreck a different strategy was pursued with shovel test pits being utilised to discover concentrations of artefacts or structural remains that may indicate the location of an earlier settlement loci. Two sites were pursued using this technique: the first at Easter Tombreck Township, where radial test pits were used and the second at Wester Tombreck, were a grid pattern was pursued. In both cases no major concentrations were revealed, however structural remains for buried features were noted in both cases. The paucity of evidence for artefact concentrations away from the later buildings may be due to the aceramic nature of pre-19th century settlement in the area and the fact that structures tended to be built of turf up until the end of the 17th century. |
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| In May 2005 Trench 30 at Easter Tombreck was exposed. The
structure revealed within Trench 30 appears to have been opened ended.
No evidence for an end wall to the north-east was visible and no entrance
was encountered in either of the long walls. It is possible that the structure
was used for industrial activity which would have generated a lot of heat.
Further detail from the interior, which supports this interpretation included
the presence of a possible quenching pit placed against the kailyard wall,
together with quantities of slag. To the north-east of the main trench two terraced areas of bedrock were noted. It is possible that the upper terrace, lying outside the open end of the building, may have been used as a working platform for the industrial process being undertaken. In terms of date, the lack of ceramics from the floor of the structure, would seem to suggest a pre-19th century date for use of this building. Several lithics were also recovered from different fills within this trench. It is likely that these lithics are residual and have been deposited in the trench as part of the turf superstructure of the long walls. This is not uncommon within turf and earth-built buildings. |
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If you would like you can download .pdf reports of the 2002 Survey Season 2002 Survey Season (1.9mb) or the 2002 Excavation Season (3.9mb).
