Tarradale Through Time Blog
Tarradale Excavations 2024: The Barns
by James McComas - 19:43 on 12 September 2024
Tarradale is certainly a location that keeps on giving archaeologically. This has paid dividends most spectacularly with our Mesolithic Shell Midden excavations in 2017 and 2023, and our large scale Pictish Barrow Cemetery dig in 2019. However, significant sites from other periods have also featured. We did record and partially excavate a post-medieval settlement in 2018 which proved to match quite accurately the buildings shown on Aitken’s 1788 estate map – see further details here.
In our last blog post we updated you on some post medieval excavations at Tarradale in 2024, also informed by Aitken’s 1788 map. The focus has been on a cluster of 5 buildings shown on the map just to the Northwest of Tarradale House, which are labelled “barns”. To date, we have conducted 4 short duration digs at the site - a total of 13 days digging - significantly expanding the excavated area over that time.
Following our June dig, we had revealed part of a substantial wall, around 17 m long. Based on the assumption that this wall related to Building 1 on the plan below, we began to think where we could open further trenches which might pick up other walls in the complex of buildings. A mechanical digger was brought in by Eric and met with mixed fortunes; several trenches found nothing, but 3 others hit wall- like structures.
Above: The 5 buildings labelled "barns" on Aitken's map with approximate scale (Bob Jones). Below: Plan of trenches as of July 24 with possible configuration of buildings superimposed (David Newman). The areas labelled A, B and C are suggested locations for further trenches or trench extensions. To date only 'A' has been dug.
Sites 1 and 2 (above) appeared to show a continuation of our wall to the south, while site 4 tantalisingly showed a possible return. It seemed apparent that the long wall could not be all one building, so we worked on assumption we must be also picking up connecting walls shown between the buildings on the Aitken map.
Over 5 days in late July we excavated these features with the extra help of volunteers from the Young Archaeologists’ Club and Dig It! Sites 1 and 2 cleaned up quite nicely to sections of wall not dissimilar to what we had uncovered already (Site 3). We also continued to further define the Site 3 wall, which we had not entirely finished excavating in June. However we did not find any obvious signs of another return wall as we might have expected had it belonged to Building 1 on Aitken’s map.
Above: Work in the Site 2 trench. Below: A young archaeologist in the original Site 3 wall trench.
An obvious priority though was to extend Site 4 to see if it did indeed link up with Site 3 to potentially form the corner of a building. This was to involve much slow, heavy work amongst tree roots and biting insects. Although we did uncover significant amounts of stone with some “wallish” looking elements, disappointingly this was not of the same quality of the long wall already excavated. Indeed, the more we uncovered the more it resembled an amorphous spread of rubble, albeit one made up of some large building quality stones. Our resolute attempts over the next few days to define the spread and find structure in it were to prove largely frustrated. We did however continue to find pieces of possible 18th glass and ceramic, as well as one or two small sherds of possible medieval redware.
Above: Work gets underway in the Site 4 trench. Below: Site 4 (left) and Site 3 (right) a few days into the July dig. Bottom: Photogrammetry image of Sites 3 and 4 at the end of the July dig (David Newman).
NOSAS colleague David Newman had joined us on this leg of the dig to help with IT- based planning, recording and photogrammetry. As the excavation progressed, plans went backward and forward as we tried to reconcile the layout of Aitken’s map with what we were finding on the ground. Following the July dig David suggested we might not be where we had thought we were on Aitken’s map and that our long wall might in fact be one shown to the south of the group of “barns” (see Aitken's map above right). This theory, explained some, although not all, of our difficulties and we resolved to open a few small speculative trenches immediately to the north when we returned to site in August.
Above: Updated plan of trenches as of August 24, with suggested location of buildings from the Aitken plan superimposed (David Newman).
The 4 days of digging in late August was a quieter affair and which saw two main fronts of action being pursued. Our latest hypothesis was that the mass of stone at Site 4 might be the demolished remains of Building 5 on Aitken’s map. We resolved therefore to extend this trench to see if we could find any further evidence of the building. This involved the partial relocation of two previous spoil heaps, and so again was where the heavier work on site took place. We did find a tantalisingly straight edge to the stone spread on its western side, but frustratingly the spread then petered out as we extended the trench northwards. We also attempted to extend the trench westwards but the spread of rubble proved to stop immediately to the east of the original wall (Site 3) putting our most recent theory into doubt. We did however an uncover a small area of putative cobbling just at the Site 3 wall terminus which may mark the exterior of an entrance. Finds again included several pieces of possible 18th-century ceramic and glass, as well a handful of medieval pottery sherds with patches of glaze still on them.
Above: Uncovering the extent of the spread of rubble in Site 4. Below Left: A patch of possible cobbling at the northern end of Site 3. Below Right: Small sherds of medieval redware with traces of glaze recovered from Site 4.
Two speculative trenches were opened to the north of this area in an attempt to uncover further building remains. The second of these trenches (Site 8) found a concentrated area of burning and a possible clay surface. A sondage taken through the clay revealed a large flat stone which seemed likely to have been deliberately placed. A possible interpretation was that this might be a floor layer from the interior of one of the buildings. Restrictions of time and manpower prevented us carrying these investigations further, but there seems to be potential there to justify further future work.
Above: Recording the Site 8 trench.
As the dig progressed another hypothesis was considered; that our original long wall was in fact older than the 5 buildings and was not depicted on Aitken’s map at all. We learned of the comparative example of a still partially extant boundary wall in Cromarty which had not been drawn on Aitken’s map of the area, although it undoubtedly predated it. We postulated that we may have uncovered an older boundary wall which, like the one in Cromarty, was not relevant to Aitken’s estate plan and was therefore was never recorded on it. Our best guess is that the rubble spread at Site 4 does indeed represent the demolished remains of one of the “barns” shown on Aitken’s map, but at this point its precise location on the map has not been definitively established.
The site will be left open, and we are keen to continue the work (which currently involves little investment apart from time) in the coming months. After so much effort already, it would be rewarding to securely locate the "barns" on Aitken’s map and learn more about post-medieval life at Tarradale in the process.
Add your comment
