Document record MAB61285 - BISHOP'S CLOSE, BRECHIN

An excavation was carried out at this site by MAS in September 2009, in association with works being carried out at the adjacent Cathedral Hall.

An excavation was carried out at this site by MAS in September 2009, in association with works being carried out at the adjacent Cathedral Hall. A geophysical survey was undertaken prior to the excavation but did not indicate specific features due to the general 'noise' of the site. Two trenches were excavated. Trench One (1.7 x 1 m) was excavated to a depth of 2 m, 19th Century building debris was recovered in the upper levels, but from a depth of circa 1 m all the lower deposit were medieval in date. Finds included two coins dating to the 13th and 14th centuries. Trench Two (6.5 x 7.2 m) on the east side of the site revealed 19th and 20th century deposits represented by a large pathway of Carmyllie Stone, dumps of modern rubbish including china and glass, walls and the footings of a building. An 18th to mid 19th century building was also recorded at the site, along with stone drains dating to the same period. Below this level was a medieval midden, with material dating from the late 12th/13th to 14th centuries. Under the midden the possible remains of a building/structure were observed. The wall on the east side of the site was also surveyed and recorded, as it was apparent that it was formerly part of the building identified as dating to the 18th/19th century. In total, circa 600 sherds and fragments of medieval pottery were recovered from the site, of which around 91 percent appears to be of local manufacture (Scottish Redwares) while only 6 percent is imported, including from Yorkshire and the Low Countries. The pottery dates, in the main, from the late 12th century to the 13th/14th with only a handful of 15th/16th century and later stoneware evident. Other finds included sherds of glass vessels, glass beads, and metal objects. Excavation by MAS in 2010 excavated the deep deposit of medieval midden and recorded earlier medieval features below it. A well-built stone wall of probable 13th century date ran along the north side of this part of Bishop's Close, almost certainly a wall enclosing the precinct around the residence of the medieval bishops of Brechin. Within the wall there was a roughly paved yard around a huge pit almost 1.5 m deep. At first this seems to have been used as a well, with traces of a timber lining, but later it had been used as a cess pit. An almost complete 13th/14th century Low Countries greyware pitcher was found in the fill. Later, there appears to have been a fire with thick deposits of ash and burning filling in the pit and covering the yard. For over a hundred years the area seems to have been used as a midden which covered the wall, the yard and the well. Coins from the midden date within the period 1247-1310.

MURRAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SERVICES, 2009, BISHOP'S CLOSE, BRECHIN - EXCAVATION (Bibliographic reference). SAB4669.

ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2010, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND: VOL 10, 2009, p.31 (Bibliographic reference). SAB3514.

ARCHAEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2011, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND. NEW SERIES, VOLUME 11, 2010, p.32 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5535.

MURRAY AND MURRAY, HK, JC, 2011, EXCAVATIONS IN BISHOP'S CLOSE, BRECHIN 2009 AND 2010. IN: TAFAJ, 17 (2011) PP. 37-57, pp. 37-57 (Bibliographic reference). SAB7305.

Sep 3 2009 , DG0048-51, DG0048-51 (Ground Photograph). SAB30075.

Record last edited

Jun 3 2025 11:45AM