A Medieval Grain-Drying Kiln and Earlier Mill-Lade at Lhanbryde, Moray Derek Alexander* with a Contribution by Timothy G Holden
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Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 127 (1997), 677-685 A medieval grain-drying kiln and earlier mill-lade at Lhanbryde, Moray Derek Alexander* with a contribution by Timothy G Holden ABSTRACT The remains ofseriesa of ditches Lhanbrydeat interpretedare remainsthe as ofmill-ladea system. The northern lade ofthe end subsequently contained remainsthe possibleofa grain-drying kiln from which burnt sherda oatsand of pottery indicate llth-an 13th-centuryto date.projectThe was Nationalfundedthe by Roads Directorate Historicvia Scotland. INTRODUCTION e Centr Th r Fielfo e d Archaeology undertoo n archaeologicaa k l assessment, excavatiod an n watching brie t Lhanbrydea f , near Elgin 199n i , 4 constructio e Lhanbrydprio6 th A9 o r t e th f eo n Bypass (illu swor e fundeNationa1)e s .Th th k wa y db l Roads Directorat Scottise Th f eo h Office managed behals an it Historiy n b o df c Scotland numbeA . isolatef o r d features were recorded alon e rout th gf constructio o e e majoritth t bu ny containe o artefactn do n d thers an swa e indication of their function or date (Alexander 1996). However, in the field to the south of the ease Statiof th o t villag o t d n eRoadan , sealed below deea p topsoi buried lan d ploughsoila s wa , series of ditches, interpreted here as a mill-lade system. Built into the northern end of the disused mill-lade wer burne eth t remain grain-dryina f so g kil medievaf no l date (NGR 272J N : 6 6104). MILL-LADE The mill-lade was located c 80 m east of a later, 19th-century mill-lade which led to a pond supplying a woollen mil Lhanbrydn i l ee remain (illuTh . s2) s were uncovere Trencn di durinh9 archaeologicae gth l assessment werd an ,e further investigate durind e excavatioan th e , th y gC b d d f Trencheo nan B , A s subsequent watchin ge ditche brieTh . f s2) (illu wer& 1 se sealed belo w0.7-1.c f ploughsoilo 2m . They comprised two narrow, iron-panned ditches (Ditches 1A & 2A) cut into the sandy subsoil, which led into two wider and deeper ditches (Ditches 1 & 2) to the north-east (illus 3). Ditch 1A was up to 1.95 m wide and 0.25 m deep while Ditch 2A was 1.65 m wide and 0.35 m deep. The fine silty fills of these ditches, together with the iron-panning along their sides, is consistent with gradual silting of open channels owing to running water. Two patches of stiff pink clay located below ploughsoil beside Ditch 2A may indicate that this ditch originalls wa y luted with clay. * Centr Fielefor d Archaeology, Universit Edinburghyof Infirmar12 , y Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT 678 SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1997 ILLU S1 Location maps. (Based upon Ordnancee th CrownSurvey© p ma Copyright) paire Th f ditcheso s suggest tha remaine th t represeny sma phaseo tw t f constructionso , althougt hi was impossibl determino et sequencee eth . DitcDitcd an hcombine1 2 foro dt mlarga e elongated mill- wide m pon e 8 Th .o d t north-easterdeeps variem p it u t 3 lon pondm d A .1. d5 gan d 2 betweec ,an m n 7 n0. end the pond narrowed to 2 m wide and continued outwith the Trench C excavation area to the north-east. Thi presumabls si positioe yth sluica r nfo e gat controo et outfloe lth watef wo r fro ponde mth t thi.A s point the present ground surface slopes downwards in a north-easterly direction, forming a slight terrace to the south of the existing burn. If this series of ditches was used to supply water for a mill then the area just outside the road corridor, to the north-east, would be the probable site of the mill (illus 3). The Lhanbryde Burn turns north-wese th o t t thia t s poin thid an st would have allowe watee dth r returnefroe milb e e mth o t l th o dt stream here. The fills within the pond suggest that the lower portions of the lade silted up over time before the upper portio infilles nwa d more rapidl loay yb m ploughsoi onle l (illuTh y . finds4) s from these fills werea numbe piecef ro irof so n slasomd gan e animal teeth. GRAIN-DRYING KILN Trench C revealed four distinct layers within the north-eastern terminal of the pond. The base was lined with thick yellow clay, part of which had been burnt (illus 5.1). This hardened, black burnd re d t patcan f claho y forme singlda e concentrated area (which continued beyone dth excavation) and indicates the position of a fire. A single plain body sherd of 12th- or 13th-century pottery was located to the east of this clay layer. Both the clay and the pot sherd were covered in an even layer of carbonized seeds (illus 5.2, burnt seed deposit 1), the majority of which are ALEXANDER: GRAIN-DRYING KIL MILL-LADD NAN LHANBRYDT EA 9 67 I E 0 500m C - site of church W - site of 19th-century woollen mill '"•••- postulated line of medieval lade ILLUS 2 Location of excavation trenches and mill lades identified as oats (see below). The carbonized remains spread down the south-eastern side of the pond (illus 5.2, burnt seed deposit 2). This latter deposit appeared on examination in the field to be slightly different in character with a more fibrous content. Laboratory analysis of the seed type layero s tw presen e s supporteth n i t d this observation (see below) seede Th . s producee dth following radiocarbon date: LAB No MATERIAL DATED BP 513(%o) GU-4371 Avena sp. 830 + 50 -28 680 SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1997 10 20m possible locatiof no mill site Ditch 2 projected line of ditch Ditch 2A silty loam limit of area stripped during watching brief ILLU S3 Pla milf no l lad locatiod ean kilf no n The calibrated results from these samples produced a two-sigma calibrated range of AD 1042-1270 (following Stuive t ale r 1993) thicA . k laye f burno r t wattle (mostly haze oakd an l ) burnd an t daub sealed these layer carbonizef so d seeds (illus 5.3). After this episod f burnineo north-eastere gth n termina pone th f ds thio l A siltes . dup proces siltinf so g occurred pitso tw ,, each containin glarga e undressed stone, wer t inte ecu o th accumulating througd silan t layee h th f burn o r t wattl daud ean b (illue Th s . 5.3B) , pit& sA ALEXANDER: GRAIN-DRYING KILN AND MILL-LADE AT LHANBRYDE | 681 2m Ijloam/ploughsoil |=-^=^ silt I liiliiilifl silt/loam gg|| clay Ji f^5J3 gravel |||l|lj!|| modern turf/topsoil « [•,• • '; .] sand ILLU S4 Sections through mill lade larger of the two stones (stone A) was 0.76 m long, 0.87 m wide and 0.30 m thick as exposed. A cylindrical hole diamete0.1n i 5m t int0.2 d middle uppecu e deeor an 0th m s th f pewa ro surface. There were no remains within this socket to suggest what its function had been. The horizontal positioning of the stone with the hole facing upwards suggests it was placed there for a purpose, although the other stone, without a socket, argues against this and they may simply have been burie preveno dt t them being struck during ploughing possibls i t I . e that both stone havy sema been deposited following demolitio adjacene th f no t mill. CARBONIZEE TH D PLANT REMAINS Timothy G Holden The samples from the two layers of burnt seeds (1 & 2) were processed and sorted at the Centre for Field Archaeology. Identifications were made using modern comparative material from the collection of AOC (Scotland) Ltd. The results are presented in Table 1 (below). Both samples were dominated by the grains of oat (Avena sp.), a number of which were still held withi enclosine nth g hulls (lemm palea)d aan . This latter categor wholf yo e florets enabled the identification of the oats to the black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.). This implies that the majority of the naked grains were also of this species. In addition to the grains and florets considerable quantitie lightee th f so r chaff elements suc lemmas ha fragmentn , paleaaw d an , s were present, indicating that when charring occurred much of the crop was still in the form of florets. 682 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1997 2 ! 7Nf- ;'-• later pil ™*-\rM;&\ ILLU S5 Sequenced plan depositf so kiln si n earlies lateso t t) (I-3 ALEXANDER: GRAIN-DRYING KILMILL-LADD NAN LHANBRYDT EA E 683 Other cereals were presen burnn i t t seed deposi only2 t ; these included hulled barley (Hordeum vulgare — hulled), rye (Secale cereale L.) and bread/compact wheat (Triticum aestivo- compactuni). Of these, barley grain was the most common, but because of the highly vesicular natur graie th f neo mos thif to s identifie e coulb t dno d beyon levee d indeterminatth f lo e cultivated barley. Weed seeds (here use includo dt e seeds, fruits etc) were recovered from both samples. From deposi the1 t y consiste considerablf do y tota e lesth sf l o thanumbe % n1 identifief ro d itemt sbu from layer 2 they amounted to approximately 45%. They are most likely to have been harvested along with the cereals and represent contaminants remaining in the part-processed product.