EAB3031 - Watching Brief and Emergency Survey 1998 - RUTHVEN

In March 1998 the block marking the site was removed during digging of a service trench for pipes and cables. An emergency survey by RCAHMS was undertaken on Thursday 26th March 1998 and the souterrain was resealed the following weekend. This revealed that the souterrain was sausage-shaped, measuring 9.3 m long east-northeast, up to 2.3 m wide, and circa 2 m high. It is of drystone construction, with occasional water-worn stones and has a mostly intact corbelled roof. A depression in the east end is probably the remains of a 19th Century investigation, further damage was noted at the entrance on the north. The 1998 service trench crossed the west end of the recorded chamber and the top of three features, probably passages. No evidence of masonry in these features was discovered, and they too were probably disturbed in the 19th Century. The cup and ring marked stone used as a roofing slab, previously published by J. Simpson in the 19th Century, was recorded more accurately in 1998. It is a slab of red sandstone measuring 1.7 m long, 0.85 m wide, and 0.3 m thick. It has eleven visible cup marks. Of these, two have single rings and two others have two and three rings respectively. Three of these are linked by grooves to the north end of the stone. The stone has suffered some scaling since the 19th Century.