Professor Ian Ralston

LOCAL AUTHORITY:

Moray

PROJECT TITLE/SITE NAME:

Burghead landward ramparts

PROJECT CODE:

N/A

PARISH:

Duffus

NAME OF CONTRIBUTOR:

Prof. Ian Ralston

NAME OF ORGANISATION:

Archaeology, School of Arts, Culture & the Environment, University, 12, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LT

TYPE(S) OF PROJECT:

Excavation

NMRS NO(S):

NJ16NW1

SITE/MONUMENT TYPE(S):

Promontory Fort

SIGNIFICANT FINDS:

None

NGR (2 letters, 6 figures)

NJ 109691

START DATE (this season)

7 September 2003

END DATE (this season)

26 September 2003

PREVIOUS WORK (incl. DES ref.)

Reviewed by Ralston, I 2004: The Hill-Forts of Pictland since ‘The Problem of the Picts’. Rosemarkie: Groam House Museum Papers.

MAIN (NARRATIVE) DESCRIPTION:
(May include information from other fields)

The key aim of this project was to identify and if possible date elements of the landward triple rampart system of the fort, now located within the town and outwith the scheduled areas of the ancient monument. The total excavation of the garden of 22 Church Street proved negative; all finds were modern. Contrastingly, partial examination of the gardens of The Brae, 35, Grant Street, provided evidence for the cut of one substantial ditch below modern soil build-up, associated with the remodelling of Burghead and subsequently the erection in 1912 of The Brae. Standing walls limited the exposure of this ditch. A thin organic horizon associated with a small quantity of tumbled stonework identified here contained no particulate charcoal and was not polleniferous. A narrow trench was also machine cut along the length of the footpath E of the enclosure holding the Burghead Well: whilst showing undulations in the subsoil there were no clear surviving signs of a ditch here. Contrastingly, it was noted that slight traces of two banks and ditches can still be seen on the surface trending obliquely across St Aethan’s graveyard (see photograph).      

PROPOSED FUTURE WORK:

The structural condition of The Brae is being monitored.

CAPTION(S) FOR ILLUSTRS:

Dead men do tell tales: the inclination of the gravestones in St Aethan’s churchyard intimates the former course of two of the outer ramparts and ditches of the promontory fort.

SPONSOR OR FUNDING BODY:

Moray Headland Trust

ADDRESS OF MAIN CONTRIBUTOR:

As above

EMAIL ADDRESS:

Ian.Ralston@ed.ac.uk

ARCHIVE LOCATION (intended/deposited)

NMRS / Moray-Aberdeenshire Council - intended