ARO16: Digging Linlithgow’s past: early urban archaeology on the High Street, 1966-1977 by the late Doreen Hunter, Catherine Brooks, David Caldwell, Geoffrey Stell and Mike Middleton, compiled by Catherine Smith with contributions by David P Bowler, Adrian Cox, Derek W Hall, Nicholas Holmes, David Perry and Catherine Smith and illustrations by Mike Middleton, David Munro and the late Frank W Moran Archaeology Reports Online, 52 Elderpark Workspace, 100 Elderpark Street, Glasgow, G51 3TR 0141 445 8800 | [email protected] | www.archaeologyreportsonline.com ARO16: Digging Linlithgow’s past: early urban archaeology on the High Street, 1966-1977 Published by GUARD Archaeology Ltd, www.archaeologyreportsonline.com Editor Beverley Ballin Smith Design and desktop publishing Gillian McSwan Produced by GUARD Archaeology Ltd 2015. ISBN: 978-0-9928553-5-2 ISSN: 2052-4064 Requests for permission to reproduce material from an ARO report should be sent to the Editor of ARO, as well as to the author, illustrator, photographer or other copyright holder. Copyright in any of the ARO Reports series rests with GUARD Archaeology Ltd and the individual authors. The maps are reproduced by permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. All rights reserved. Alder Archeology Licence number 100049514. The consent does not extend to copying for general distribution, advertising or promotional purposes, the creation of new collective works or resale. Editor’s note: The manuscript for this publication was brought together by Catherine Smith after the stratigraphy had been organized and phased by Mike Middleton. Between the excavations and the compilation, some detailed records and finds, including the buckle, have either been misplaced or lost. Although there has been some recent updating of the manuscript and figures, it has not been possible to add further detail or improve the quality of the figures or plates. This is the publication of the surviving archive of an important series of excavations, which still have validity today in the understanding of the burgh of Linlithgow. Authors: David Caldwell: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/david-caldwell/64/66/113 Catherine Smith: [email protected] Geoffrey Stell: http://geoffreystell.com/ Mike Middleton: [email protected] Contents Abstract 5 Introduction 5 Historical Background 7 The Excavations 13 223 High Street 13 225 High Street 14 324 High Street 14 332-336 High Street 17 Summary of phasing 21 Phase 1 pre-seventeenth century, industrial 21 Phase 1a deep steep-sided pits 21 Phase 1b shallow pits 21 Phase 1c vertical-sided, possibly lined pits 21 Phase 1d vertical-sided stone-lined pits 21 Phase 2 post-seventeenth century, residential 21 Phase 2a seventeenth century stone buildings 21 Phase 2b demolition and clearance of seventeenth century buildings? 21 Phase 2c eighteenth and nineteenth century stone and brick buildings 21 Pottery and small finds 23 223-243 High Street 23 324 High Street 28 332-336 High Street 31 Environmental remains: animal bone, antler and mollusc shell 36 223-243 High Street 36 324 High Street 36 332-336 High Street 36 General discussion 41 Acknowledgements 42 Archives 42 Bibliography 42 Appendix 1: Catalogue of illustrated pottery 46 Appendix 2: Table 1: Catalogue of antler fragments from 326-332 West High Street, 47 Linlithgow List of Figures Figure 1: Location with site locations on Ordnance Survey Map 1:2500 (1977) 6 Figure 2: Site locations on John Wood’s 1820 Plan of the Town of Linlithgow 9 Figure 3: 223-243 High Street, 1977 superimposed on Wood 1820 and OS map 1977 10 Figure 4: 324 and 332-336 High Street, 1966 and 1973, superimposed on Wood 1820 and OS 10 map 1977 Figure 5: 223-243 High Street, 1977 14 Figure 6: 324 High Street, 1966 15 Figure 7: 324 High Street, 1966, sections 16 Figure 8: 324 and 332-336 High Street, 1966 and 1973 19 Figure 9: 324 and 332-336 High Street, 1966 and 1973, pre-seventeenth century features 20 superimposed on Wood 1820 Figure 10: 332-336 High Street, 1973 sections 20 Figure 11: 324 and 332-336 High Street, 1966 and 1973, post-seventeenth century features 22 superimposed on OS map 1977 Figure 12: Pottery, 223-243 High Street, Cat 1-2 East Coast Redwares 24 © Archaeology Reports Online, 2015. All rights reserved. 3 List of Figures (continued) Figure 13: Small finds from 223-243 High Street, Cat 8-9 iron knives (scale 1:2); 14 iron vessel 25 (scale 1:4); 16-17 glass beads, 20 bone button, 21-23 shell buttons (scale 1:1) Figure 14: Pottery, 324 High Street, Cat 24-28 White Gritty ware, 29 East Coast Redware, 30-32 29 Reduced Greyware, 33 Stoneware (all scale 1:2) Figure 15: Small finds from 324 High Street, Cat 34 copper-alloy buckle, 35 iron key, 37 ceramic 30 counter Figure 16: Pottery, 332-336 High Street, Cat 38-39 East Coast Redware, 40-43 Oxidised 32 Redware, 44-47 Reduced Greyware, 48 Reduced Gritty ware, 49 Green glazed Siegburg stoneware, 50-53 unidentified fabrics (all scale 1:2) Figure 17: Small finds from 332-336 High Street, Cat 55 copper-alloy pin, 59 lead came 34 (scale 1:1); 60 lead weight, 61 iron padlock casing, 62 glass bead, 63-65 glass bottle necks, 66 glass bottle base (scale 1:2) Figure 18: Antler from 332-336 High Street, Cat 67 and 68 37 List of Plates Plate 1: General view of 332-336 High Street with excavations in progress 1973 5 Plate 2: General view of 332-336 High Street, looking east and progress in the excavations 5 between the two images Plate 3: General view of 332-336 High Street and further progress in the excavations 5 Plate 4: Cathy Brooks directing work on 332-336 High Street 11 Plate 5: John Schofield, assistant director, 332-336 High Street 13 Plate 6: Site staff at work, 332-336 High Street 18 Plate 7: Stone-lined feature FN96, 332-336 High Street 19 Plates 8-14: Montage of excavation images including David Caldwell and site volunteers, 23 223-243 High Street, 1977 List of Tables Table 2: Summary of antler offcut types with numbers of examples 38 Table 3: Summary of red deer antler dimensions from Linlithgow, Elgin, Inverness, Aberdeen 40 and Perth Table 4: Minimum age of cast or indeterminate antlers 40 4 © Archaeology Reports Online, 2015. All rights reserved. ARO16: Digging Linlithgow’s past: early urban archaeology on the High Street, 1966-1977. Abstract Excavations in Linlithgow High Street between 1966 and 1977 found evidence of an intensive fifteenth and sixteenth century tanning industry, and a large volume of worked antler waste. Documentary sources confirm a concentration of tanning and related trades from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Foundations of seventeenth to nineteenth century stone buildings were also discovered. The post- Plate 1: General view of 332-336 High Street with excavation analysis and publication of these excavations in progress 1973. excavations was funded by Historic Scotland. Plate 3: General view of 332-336 High Street and further progress in the excavations. Introduction (Figure 1) The historic burgh of Linlithgow underwent an extensive programme of town centre redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s (Eydmann 1999), affecting large and relatively undisturbed sites in highly significant locations. There was very little provision for urban archaeology in Scotland at that time, but the obvious importance of the sites prompted a series of responses from those working in the field, in some cases improvised with little or no resources. The three excavations in this publication recovered an important record of a large part of Linlithgow’s archaeology, which needed to be gathered together in an accessible form. There have been subsequent excavations in Linlithgow, in and around the Palace and Parish Plate 2: General view of 332-336 High Street, looking east Kirk (see Dennison and Coleman 2000, 60-8), at and progress in the excavations between the two images. the Carmelite Friary south of the burgh (Lindsay 1989, Spearman 1989) and on a small scale within the burgh, for example at West Port House © Archaeology Reports Online, 2015. All rights reserved. 5 ARO16: Digging Linlithgow’s past: early urban archaeology on the High Street, 1966-1977. site location Figure 1: Location with site locations on Ordnance Survey Map 1:2500 (1977). 6 © Archaeology Reports Online, 2015. All rights reserved. ARO16: Digging Linlithgow’s past: early urban archaeology on the High Street, 1966-1977. (Cachart 1989), St Michael’s Wynd (Cachart 1991) 1162 and 1164 (RRS, i, 253). Malcolm’s charter and 70-72 High Street (Dennison and Coleman is directed to ‘his sheriff and his burgesses of 2000, 80), but the excavations reported here Linlithgow and to all his good men of Linlidcuskir’. were the first to examine significant areas in the The reference by the king to ‘his burgesses of heart of the medieval burgh. Linlithgow’ proves that Linlithgow was a royal burgh at this date. Historic Scotland commissioned the then the then Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust (later ‘Linlithgowshire’ is possibly a reference to the SUAT Ltd) to carry out specialist studies of the estate, administered by a thane or sheriff, attached assemblages recovered and to produce a report to a royal manor, probably situated on the site on the three sites suitable for publication. The now occupied by the palace, rather than to the original excavators’ reports and notes have been later sheriffdom of Linlithgow or West Lothian. It edited and updated by Mike Middleton, and offers an explanation of Linlithgow’s origins as an are presented along with newer illustrations, an early royal burgh: the settlement had developed historical background and specialist reports.