Excavations in the Medieval Burgh of Perth, 1979-1981

478 Pages·1987·50.03 MB·English

by  Philip Holdsworth (ed.)

EXCAVATIONS IN THE MEDIEVAL BURGH OF PERTH 1919-81
EDITED BY P HOLDSWORTH

P HOLDSWORTH (EDITOR) WITH LM BLANCHARD
B FORD GWI HODGSON NL MACASKILL
o
ROBINSON L ROSS C SMITH AND R M SPEARMAN
EXCAVATIONS IN THE MEDIEVAL
BURGH OF PERTH 1979-1981
ILLUSTRATION N MACASKILL FW MORAN L ROSS
A THOMAS
PHOTOGRAPHY M BROOKS A MUTHESIUS D SMITH
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND EDINBURGH 1987
MONOGRAPH SERIES NUMBER 5
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES
OF SCOTLAND
MONOGRAPH SERIES
PREVIOUS VOLUMES
EDITORS IBM RALSTON HK MURRA Y AN SHEPHERD Number I
CL CURLE
Piclish and Norse finds from the
Volume editors: HI\: Murray AN Shepherd Brough of Birsay 1934-74 (1982)
ISBN 0 903903 01 6
Number 2
JC MURRAY
Excavations in The medieval burgh
of Aberd~n 1973-81 (1982)
ISBN 0 903903 02 4
Number J
H FAIRHURST
E",.,'alions al Crosskirk Broch,
Caillmess (19&4)
ISBN 0 903903 03 2
N\lmbcr 4
JR HUNTER
Rescue excavations on the Brough of
Blrsay \974-82 (1986)
ISBN 0 903903 04 0
This "olume is published with the aid of generous granls from
Iht Historic Building.s and Monumems Directorate of the
Scouish Dcvdopmenl Dcpanmem
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Dala
Excavations in the medieval BUTllh of Perth, 1979-81.
(Society of Antiquaries of Scotland monograph series
ISSN 0263-3191; S).
I. E)ltavations (Arthaeology)- Scolland- Penh (penhshire)
2. Penh (Perthshire)-Amiquilies
3. Scotland - Amiquities
I. Holds .... orth, Philip II. Series
941.2'8 DA890.P4
ISBN 0 903903 05 9
Printed by Waverley Press (Aberdeen) Limited
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 6
List of illustrations 8
List of tables 11
Introduction P Holdsworth 1J
The geological and historical background LM Blanchard and L Ross 15
2 The excavations 18
2: I Kirk Close LM Blanchard 18
2:2 SQUlh Mclhven Street RM Spearman 47
2:3 Canal Street II RM Spearman 59
3 The excavated buildings 84
3: I The excavated buildings lM Blanchard 84
3:2 Structural timbers A Crone and J Barber 87
4 The pottery Nl MacAskill with J Brittain and C Scott and a cOlllribution by J Hurst 89
5 The finds 121
5:1 The copper alloy objects 8 Ford with a contribution by DH Caldwell 121
5:2 The lcad alloy objects 8 Ford 130
5:3 The iron objects B Ford with contributions by SMA Ellis 130
5:4 The wooden objects B Ford with identification by T Skinner. A Crone and
J Barber 141
5:5 The stone objects and roofing tiles B Ford with identifications by G Collins 147
5:6 The bone objects B Ford with identifications by C Smith and GWJ Hodgson 150
5:7 The window glass B Ford 152
5:8 The ceramic objects B Ford 152
5:9 The perforated oyster shell B Ford 153
5:10 The moss ropes B Ford and D Robinson 153
5: II The coins and jellon DH Caldwell 155
5: 12 The flints G Harden 155
5:13 Thc ceramic building material NL MacAskill 156
5:14 The metalworking: debris and mould and crucible fragments RM Spearman 157
5:15 The textiles H Bennell with a contribution on the silk by A 1\'luthesius 159
5: 16 The leather C Thomas 174
5:17 The clay tobacco pipes pj Davey 190
6 The environmental remains 196
6:1 The animal bone C Smith and GW\ Hodgson 196
6:2 The shellfish P Vasey 199
6:3 The botanical remains D Robinson 199
7 Conclusions LM Blanchard 210
Reference List 21 J
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust owes debts of gratitude (a many organisations and
individuals for assistance received during fieldwork and the preparation of this report.
For funding:
The excavation and post-excavation work for all sites reponed on here has been funded by the Scollish
Development Department, Historic Buildings and Monuments Division. Additional resources wcrc
provided by the ~\'Ianpower Services Commission via Job Creation Schemes.
For access to sites:
1\1 Kirk Close, DCI Holdings lid: at South Street, Clydesdale Bank pic: al Canal Street, Penh and
Kinross District Council. and Percy Trentham Ltd.
For work on site:
At Kirk Close, E Cox, J Dinn, L Lind, M Lind,S Reynolds, S Smith, M Spearman, and P Vasey.
Perth Support Group assisted with fund raising and publicity. Perth and Kinross Museum and Art
Gallery provided temporary accommodation. At South Methven Street, J Cannel and P Vasey. At
Canal Street. L Ross and S Smith.
Specialists:
The contributors to the following sections of the report would like to record their acknowledgements.
3;2 Structural Timbers
J Barber and A Crone arc grateful to Dr 0 J Breeze for his permission to usc the laboratory facilities
of the Central Excavation Unit (Scmland).
4 Pottery
N i\'lacAskill thanks C SCOlt and J Brittain for detailed preliminary work on the Kirk Close and
South Methven Street pottery respectively. J Hurst examined and reported on a Spanish sherd from
Canal Street. Advice and discussion was provided by L Blanchard, P Farmer, N Farmer, G Haggany,
o Hall, B Lindsay, F Verhaerge and A Walsh. E Cox carried out petrological work on local wares.
5 Finds
13 Ford thanks Dr 0 Caldwell for commenting on the text of the finds repon; L Moran and A Walsh
produced the lists of finds by phase contained in microfiche: A Reid advised on finds recovered
from PHSE; I Goodall gave permission to quote from his unpublished thesis; A Cunies, P Midha,
W Murray, J Oxley and G Stell gave advice and assistance in the preparation of the report on wooden
objects: P Graves and B Lindsay commented on the medieval window glass; A MacGregor commented
on a bone tomb; A Oulton, K Lovell, R Wel1ander and A Wright were responsible for conservation.
7
C Thomas acknowledges the help and advice of J Swann; J Thornton gave permission to quote
at length from his glossary.
A Muthesius thanks F Pritchard for drawing attention to the silk from the Priory of Holy Trinity
Church, Aldgatc; 0 King commented on the weave of silks; E Crowfoot and G Edwards gave
permission for the examination of the Baynards Castle Dock silk.
H Bennett thanks H Dalrymple for undertaking dye analysis; Dr J Tail commented on textile
lab no 5312; Professor M Whitting and Dr ML Ryder gave access to their unpublished reports on
dyes and on wool and hair respectively.
David Caldwell is grateful to N Holmes for advice on coin no 180.
P Davey is grateful to Perth and Kinross Museum and Art Gallery for permission to examine
and publish the 19th century stamps and for help with the Directory information.
6: 1 Animal bone
GWI Hodgson and C Smith gratefully acknowledge the provision of research facilities by the governors
of Duncan of Jordonstone College, Dundee.
6:3 Botanical Remains
D Robinson thanks Dr WE Boyd, CA Dickson and Dr JH Dickson for their assistance in the
preparation of the report.
Production of text:
The typing, correction and production of the manuscript has been chiefly undertaken by the SUAT
computing department. Special thanks are due to J Schofield, C Smith, S Stead and H Turner.
PholOgraphs:
M Brooks 21, 44, 69, 76. 77, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 98, 99. Perth and Kinross Museum and An Gallery
2. All other photographs by SUAT except 96, 97, which were supplied by A Muthesius.
Illustrations:
N MacAskill 43, 45-58
FW Moran 1,24,31,34-36,40,59-68,70-74,79-85,87,88,100-107, III, 112
L Ross 3, 5,9-14, 16-19,22
A Thomas 8, 23, 25-29, 75, 89, 95, 108-110
8
ILLUSTRA TIONS
I Penh location maps and position of sites excavated up to 1981 [4
2 A plan of the lawn of Perth by A Rutherford 1774 16
3 Location map of Kirk Close, 86-100 High Street 19
4 Kirk Close, general view looking S 21
5 Kirk Close, plots A and B. Plan of Period I 22
6 Kirk Close, plol A looking W 23
7 Kirk Close, detail of lavatory seal 24
8 Kirk Close, exploded and assembled views of lavatory scat: Period I 25
9 Kirk Close, plol C. Plan of Period I 26
[0 Kirk Close, plot A. Plan of Period I[ 28
[ I Kirk Close, plol C. Plan of Period II 30
12 Kirk Close, plol C. Plan of Period III 31
13 Kirk Close, plol A. Plan of Period IJJ 33
14 Kirk Close, plots A and B. Plan of Period IV 34
15 Kirk Close, plot B, a wattle screen within a pit looking S. 36
16 Kirk Close, plot C. Plan of Period IV 37
17 Kirk Close, plot C. Plan of Period V Phase A 38
18 Kirk Close, plot C. Plan of Period V Phase B 40
19 Kirk Close, plot C. Plan of Period VI 41
20 Kirk Close, plot C, an oven looking E. 42
21 Kirk Close, outline of excavated structures in relation to 19th-century property
divisions 43
22 Kirk Clost', mace head 44
23 Plan of the western suburb of Perth showing COUfse of town lead (after Rutherford)
and location of South Methven Street excavation 48
24 Location map of 29-30 South Methven Street 49
25 29-30 South Methven Street, Areas 1 and 2, Structure I. Plan of Period I 50
26 29·30 South Meth"en Street, Areas 1 and 2, Structure 2. Plan of Period 11 53
27 29-30 South Methven Street. Areas 1 and 2, Structure 3. Plan of Period III 55
28 29·30 South Methven Street, N section of Area 3 57
29 Location map of Canal Street II 60
30 Canal Street 11, general views, looking W 62
31 Canal Street II, plan of Periods I-V 63
32 Canal Street II, a gully, looking 5 67
33 Canal Street II, a pit, looking S 71
34 Canal Street II, plan of Periods VI-X 74
35mfCana[ Street II, W half of N facing Section
36mf Canal Street 1[, E half of N facing St'ction
37 Canal Street [I, a gully, looking S 77
38 Canal Street II. a gully, looking N 78
39 Canal Street II, a stone alignment, looking 5 79
40 Key to section drawing conventions 83
41 Kirk Close, N wall of building 52 85
42 Kirk Close, E wall of building 53, looking S 85